Warriors:New Frontier Book 1
by MoonKissedDreamerEureka
Summary: In a distant land,four clans different from the ones we know and love have been thriving for far longer, but when shadows from their forgotten past threaten their present can four young cats,one from each clan, stop them before the clans are torn apart.Find out in the first book of WNF series,The Chosen Ones. T to be safe.
1. Prologue

**Warriors New Frontier**

**Book 1: The Chosen Ones**

**Prologue**

_Silvery mist trickled in through the shadowy bracken_ soon engulfing the entire forest floor. With the full moon shining high in the night sky, the mist reflected an eerie glow upon the woods. Not a sound was heard, not a single leaf disturbed, not even owls dared to perturb the utter silence that had befallen the forest.

Then, the slow pattering of paws was heard against the hardening ground, frozen over from the recent arrival of fall-time. As the mist rose into the canopies of the trees, four feline shapes could barely be made out among the undergrowth. Two were very close in size, one was tall and lithe, and the last towered over them all. The slight movement of their jaws could be seen as they whispered the foretelling words.

"The howling winds of an unstoppable storm," an androgynous voice began.

"And the light shining silver off the water," an unmistakably sweet voice added.

"Can save the clans in their darkest of hours," continued a more masculine voice.

"With the leadership of one with the spirit of the tiger," yet another, much deeper voice went on.

"But in the end, only a dapple of snow-time's touch will guide you to your brightest future," they all finished together.

With their message delivered, the mist swirled even higher beyond the trees. Swirling until the moon itself was engulfed by its pale clutches and it thickened and thickened…and thickened…and…thickened…

* * *

"AHH!" a ginger tom screamed into the night air, his pelt matted from seasons of worry and hard work. Scrabbling up from his nest of flatten stalks of grain, he swung his head from side to side panting hard. "W-W-What was that?" he asked his empty den. Obviously, he did not receive an answer.

After calming down, the tom finally sat down and let free a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding. He murmured softly as he wiped the sleep from his eyes with a paw, "What a strange dream. I wonder if it was from Lightclan, but…those cats…their voices didn't seem familiar."

While milling over his bizarre vision, the wheat fronds blocking the entrance of his den began to rustle. "Who goes there?" he questioned softly as not to alert the young cat sitting guard in the bare limbs of the watcher's willow.

The fronds parted to reveal a she-cat with long gray and white fur who strutted gracefully over to him.  
"Sorry, did I wake you, Wildfire?" she asked, genuine concern showing in her blue-gray orbs.

"No, Breezegem," he assured her, "Something far more unsettling awoke me not too long before your arrival."

She nodded, "That's good. What may I ask unsettled you, though? Surely if it's a concern to our herbal cat, then it is worth being told to your leader?"

Wildfire flicked his ears to show his agreement, "True, but honestly, I'm not quite sure if it's important or not. You see I had this dream about these cats and a misty forest that might be the hunting grounds of Lightclan, but-" The look on Breezegem's face stopped him; her eyes had widen and her ears perked.

"Come with me," she said simply and turned back into the wheat. Wildfire got up and followed her. Now any cat who didn't belong to Hurricaneclan would undoubtedly get lost and panic in the golden sea, but this was their home and even kits learn its hidden ways before becoming protégés. The cats emerged into a clearing not too far off from his den next to the old willow. A few cats were still milling around drowsily, but were all making their way to their respective dens. _The Assembly must have run late if everyone's going to bed without even discussing what went on,_ he thought. Alas, Wildfire couldn't attend this Assembly because he had to deal with Twisterleg's leg. Again. The muscle around the crushed bone was flaring up in the cold.

As the last cats disappeared into the swaying stalks of wheat, he turned to his leader, "Now what is it that we have to discuss when it's so late at night." Wildfire looked up at the sky, _It's already past moonhigh._

Breezegem gazed up at Spirit Stretch shining brilliantly in the new moon's darkness and let out a mesmerized sigh. He suppressed a _mrrow_ of amusement at the fact that at even at her age, their great leader still stared in awe at the stars like a kit seeing it for the first time.

"You're dream," she finally began after a long moment, "I had it, too."

* * *

"Mistycloud! Mistycloud!" a sleek, silver tom with fur decorated by white stripes yelled at a much older cat who was just dosing back into slumber. _So close yet so far,_ the old cat thought bitterly.

"What is it, young'in?" he spat at the tom who seemed a bit offended by the ancient's cold response, but then he must of remembered what time it was and shrugged off his hostility with a charming smile. _Annoying pretty-kitty._

"Sorry to shout, but I just had the STRANGEST dream after coming back from the Assembly," he stated. _Oh no. You've got to be kidding me._ "There were four strange cats that I never got a good look at because it was SO~OO foggy!"

He rolled his dull blue-gray eyes at the young fool. _Seaclan is really gonna' go down hill with this mouse-brain in charge._ "Look, Quicksilva," he told the silver tom, "I will tell ya' this is probably important…but I'm sure it can wait 'til _afta_ we've gotten a good's night rest." Quicksilver seemed to accept this and stretched his back finally feeling how achy his bones were from trekking through the tunnel to Starlight Cave. Not that it mattered if he agreed or not because the dark gray tom he was talking to was already closing his eyes. Mistycloud barely noticed his white-striped tail curve out the entrance. His thoughts were only on the dream that he and his leader most likely shared.

* * *

"Pss," a light brown tom prodded a slightly moving mass of fur. Its constant, even breathing wasn't disturbed in the slightest, so the tom prodded harder. And harder. And harder. But when his paw started getting sore, from frustration and insomnia, he let out his sharp claws (trademarks of Terraclan cats) and dug them slightly into the golden brown pelt.

In a flash of fur and color in the dim light from outside, the light tom was stomped down into the stone floor by the one he was just prodding. The sheer weight of the tabby's bulk was enough to knock the breath out of the small, wiry herbal cat.

_"What are you doing?"_ the much larger tom hissed through bared fangs.

"R-R-Rock*gasp*bronze," he managed to squeak out under the pressure from his leader's paws pressing down on his lungs, "H-*gasp*Had a*gasp*dream."

Just as fast as he was on him, the golden brown tabby was off and on the other side of the cave den. "Why didn't you say so, Earthwhisper?" he asked completely nonchalant to the fact that he almost _killed_ his herbal cat, "I had one, too. A very interesting one, actually."

* * *

Two cats lagged at the back of their group, letting their friends and family members get far ahead of them and eventually out of sight. The one on the left was a ginger tom with a white splash on his chest and amber eyes that glowed and to his right was a quite pretty curly-furred, pale cream she-cat with crystal blue eyes that were strangely lacking pupils. They padded along close together, their pelts just barely brushing.

"So did you have the vision too? After the Assembly?" the ginger tom asked his companion.

She replied with a warm purr, "What do you think? What kind of herbal cat would I be if the _leader_ was the one getting messages from Lightclan?"

He smiled gently at her remark, but his stare never left the empty path in front of them. "What do you think it means?" he asked her being completely serious.

"Honestly, I fear nothing good," she answered solemnly this time around, all humor completely vanished from her musical voice.

They traveled the rest of the trip through the dark woods in silence until they'd reached their camp. Stepping through the bramble wall, the she-cat halted and signaled with her tail for him to follow her. "Snowpelt delivered her kits just before we left, remember? We should check on them."

He simply nodded and followed her down into the hole at the top of what was about the center of the massive fallen oak that gave them all their homes. Slipping in through the worn wood, they landed in a hollowed out part of the tree lined with the softest moss and a few feathers here and there along the bottom. In that hollow, two nurses laid curled up with their kits. Silently moving away from the black nurse behind them and her two kits, they treaded on the softness underfoot to a clearly white cat (even in this lighting) in the back with three tiny bundles against her belly.

One was small and gray, but the fluffiness of her fur made up for a lot of the size difference; to her far right was her brother, a white tom with patches of gray every now and then; and the very last one in the middle, looked as white as her mother from here, but with further inspection tiny gray ears and a dappled scruff can be seen.

The tom couldn't help, but smile broadly at the three kits. _And Sparkclan grows larger and stronger still._ But the words from his dream still rang out through his head.

The names Snowpelt and Fogfur chose for them came back to the old leader.

_Cloudkit…Patchkit…Dapplekit._

* * *

Padding back to his den, Quicksilver couldn't help, but step into the nursery to check on his mate for one last time tonight. Although, when he climbed up the stone slope to the nursery his attention was stolen by another family. Where there was a crack in the cave ceiling, a tiny shaft of moonlight came down and landed on one of his sister's kits. Her little pelt shining a brilliant silver…

* * *

"Stupid, cranky Rockbronze," Earthwhisper muttered as he moped back to his own cave dwelling in their underground home. The protégés' den was on the way to his own den so he overheard the kits of the very cat he was upset at whispering to each other when he passed under the cliffhanging. _Must be too excited about finally being protégés to sleep,_ he thought as he joyously slipped into his lovely moss bedding.

Inside the said protégés' den, two toms that looked similar enough that they could be twins finally gave in to their sleepiness. The golden brown one gave a massive yawn that passed over to his brother.

"Contagious, eh?" he mewed groggily.

The tabby with the matching fur next to him only managed to nod drowsily as a reply.

Giving in to their bodies' desires, the first one gave one last nightly wish to his brother, "Sweet dreams, Tigerpaw."

* * *

After Wildfire left her a few minutes ago, Breezegem finally started to pad off to her own den when a rustle caught her attention making all her senses suddenly boot up. In the end, she relaxed her muscles when she saw nothing more than a dark gray tom-kit who couldn't be more than three moons old.

"W-Windkit," an invisible nurse whispered at her son.

"Nuh-uh," he nodded his head "no" vigoriously, "You can't make me go back; I'm an unstoppable storm!" The familiar white she-cat stepped out of the wheat and nabbed up her son by the scruff.

She rolled her eyes at the little tom.

The young tom dropped his head in defeat and said no more as his mother carried him away.

"Hmm," Breezegem murmured remembering the words from her vision.

* * *

At that exact moment all eight cats who received the vision from Lightclan heard the same four cats whisper the words of the prophecy in their ears,

_The howling winds of an unstoppable storm_

_And the light shining silver off the water_

_Can save the clans in their darkest of hours_

_With the leadership of one with the spirit of the tiger,_

_But in the end, only a dapple of snow-time's touch_

_Will guide you to your brightest future._

**OK, there's the prologue! Hope you liked it 'cause I sure enjoyed writing it so NO flaming. (La Roux may be bullet proof, but I'm fire proof, baby!) Seriously, I was SO giddy through the whole process. BTW, I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**Alliegiances on profile! R&R**


	2. Chapter 1:Dapple

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories. This is the first official chapter so enjoy and the allegiances should be up now on my profile.**

**Chapter 1**

_Dapplekit stirred from her peaceful sleep_ against Snowpelt's warm belly and lifted her head with a huge yawn. She sat up on one leg while she used the other one to wipe the leftover sleep from her eyes.

"Morning, sleepy-head."

She turned to see the blue eyes of her mother, that were much like her own, staring down at her full of love. "Did you sleep well?" she mewed tenderly.

"Yes," she squeaked, "I dreamt I was a strong and powerful warrior and was fighting this GINORMOUS squirrel. I mean it was as tall as a tree, but it still didn't stand a chance against me and I fed the whole clan for the rest of our lives." Sitting up completely, she stuck her chest out proudly. Her mother chuckled.

"Like that would ever happen." This irritated mew came from the small and fluffy gray she-kit finishing up her grooming in the light spilling in from the entrance hole. She gave her paw one final lick before padding over to her sister. "But at least you dream 'big'," she laughed at her own joke and Dapplekit cuffed her over one of her ears.

"That was just terrible, Cloudkit!" she purred warmly. Then she turned away from her gray sister and swung her head from side to side looking for something. Or someone.

"By the way, where is that brother of ours," she asked curiously.

Cloudkit rolled her dark blue eyes, "Considering sunhigh isn't too far away, I'd guess he's still sleeping." She emphasized the "still" in her sentence.

They treaded on the soft moss of the nursery floor over to their nest; the remaining sleeping bundle against Snowpelt was undisturbed. The sisters looked at each other smirking.

"One, two…" Dapplekit began. Suddenly, both she-kits pounced on the bundle, "THREE!"

A yowl was heard from the now awakened tom and he flailed his arms widely at his attackers. "Get back, Terraclan scum! Don't make me rip you to shreds!" he hissed defiantly. The two she-kits easily pinned down the larger tom giving blind and vain attacks; both had a front paw on his chest and the other holding down one of his front legs.

Their mother _mrrowed_ in amusement at her daughters' excellent takedown, even though the opponent had, stupidly, yet to open his eyes. Eventually, another pair of dark blue orbs appeared and the tom relaxed, but frowned deeply when he saw the so-called "Terraclan attackers" were just his sisters.

"Get off me!" he yelled, but the she-kits shook their heads no.

"Uh-uh," Dapplekit said, "You have to escape like a real warrior."

At first, his eyes widened in despair, but then they turned to slits when a challenging smirk grew on his face. With a battle cry, the young tom easily threw off the small Cloudkit, sending her sprawling at least a cat-length away, and then used his back legs to kick his other sister off. But Dapplekit responded quickly, landing on her paws and again pounced on her brother and their ball of entangled and battering paws rolled all around the nursery causing the other nurses and kits to stir.

"Dapplekit, Patchkit," a blue-gray tabby nurse hissed at them, "Take your play-fighting outside before you step on Poppytail or the other kits." She pointed with her tail to a light brown nurse who was sleeping peacefully, despite the kits' noisy play, with her long tail curled in front of her so that the tip reached all the way behind her head. The nurse's large belly was an obvious sign that her own kits would be coming soon while you could barely see the blue nurse's swollen tummy.

"Sorry, Frostedflower," the kits muttered while untangling themselves from each other. While they stood up, two new kits pranced happily over to their much larger denmates. One was an amber-eyed, black tom and the other was also amber-eyed, but had a darkly mottled brown pelt that was extra fluffy even for such a young kit.

"You don't have to worry about us!" the black tom exclaimed.

"Yeah, we wanna play too," his sister agreed.

They crouched down ready to pounce when a black tail came up from behind them and pulled them to it's owner's belly. "No, no, little ones. I'm afraid your friends are too big now for you to play with."

Dapplekit quickly jumped up to them with her eyes gleaming, "Yeah, we'll be made protégés soon."

"Ahh!" they wailed simultaneously.

During their wailing, Cloudkit came up behind them and gently put her fluffy tail against their small backs, "Sorry, Shadowkit, Bushkit. We'll wrestle with you again when we're all protégés."

Bushkit looked up at her sadly, "But that's like four whole moons away!"

The gray she-kit purred warmly at her, "Yes, but when that time does come you'll be so excited!" Dapplekit and Patchkit nodded their heads in agreement. Both were obviously looking forward to their own times as protégés.

Seeing as there was nothing they could do to change the situation, the two small kits ran off to play with a mossball in their own end of the nursery. Their mother sighed and followed to sit next to them to making sure things didn't get out of hand.

Dapplekit shrugged them off and prepared to leave the nursery so she could get back to her own playing. Standing up on her hind paws, her paws just made it out of the entrance hole in the roof of the nursery and with her strong legs, Dapplekit pulled herself out being embraced by the sun's bright light. A slight chill was in the air as the last of snow-time faded away. The chirping of birds in the treetops was yet another sign that blossom-time was here.

Scuffling behind her alerted her of her smaller sister's struggling to escape. She turned just in time to see her sister be thrust out of the hole and dropped in a heap on the dirt clearing beside the Mother Tree.

"Ow! Not so rough next time, Patchkit," she yelled at their brother who was now pulling himself out without the slightest bit of effort. These were one of the many situations where his larger size came in handy.

Patchkit smiled deviously at his littlest sister, "Oopsie." He jumped down next to Cloudkit who was too preoccupied with cleaning her fur to give a retort.

"Oh, and it took me so long to get it just right," she complained. Dapplekit rolled her eyes at her sister's frantic grooming. _Great Lightclan! Who cares what way your fur is licked down,_ she thought.

Ignoring her sister who had started lecturing their brother about "self-control", Dapplekit looked around the large clearing in front of the Mother Tree to see what was happening in the clan. Warriors and protégés were milling around either sharing tongues or grooming each other after returning from one type of patrol or another. A dark pelt and a pale ginger one could slightly be seen guarding the entrance to the bramble wall on the outside. _Maybe Darkstripes and Dawnheart._ Looking over to the fresh-kill pile in front of her, the young warriors Bramblestep and Brackenclaw were eating, the brothers' matching pelts confusing her on who was who since she didn't know them well. Lastly, the ancients, Oakleaf, Needlepelt, and Wolf-fang, laid bathing in the sun's rays in their regular spot on a large patch of grass to her left.

Noticing her for the first time, her friend, Eaglepaw, and his brother padded over to her and her siblings.

"Morning, Dapplekit, Patchkit, Cloudkit," he said warmly, "Man, I miss the time when I could sleep in all day."

Dapplekit meowed excitedly, "Well, I can't wait till I'm a protégé so you want to trade?"

Eaglepaw opened his mouth to respond, but his brother beat him to it, "Well he can't wait for you to be our denmate, either."

Eaglepaw's amber eyes instantly turned on him, "Sparrowpaw!"

Sparrowpaw laughed at his brother's reaction and the confused look on Dapplekit's face. She turned to see the brown tabby tom licking his shoulder embarrassedly avoiding eye contact with her. _Toms are weird;_ Dapplekit thought and peered over at her own brother who was finally padding over with their sister.

Now that he had a real audience, Sparrowpaw continued, "Great, I can unveil my good news now! Foxpaw and Duskpaw's mentors just took them out for their warrior assessment."

Patchkit's dark blue orbs squinted with jealousy, "Aww! I want to become a warrior, too!"

"Well, there's no guarantee they'll pass," Cloudkit mewed logically.

Dapplekit glared at her sister, "Don't jinx them now, Prick-kit." The gray she-kit pouted at the nickname Dapplekit came up for her and Patchkit snickered. Cloudkit "hmphs" and jerked her head away. The two protégés smiled at the littermates bickering, but their attention was stolen when four cats strolled into the clearing. _They're back!_ Dapplekit thought.

In the lead was a brown tom with a single white sock and not far behind was a fluffier tom. A dark-eyed ginger tabby and a pale gray tom followed up the group.

"OK, we're going to go talk with Burning-gold now," the brown tom with the odd paw said before leaving with the other brown tom to the far end of the Mother tree where the only remaining branches were. The Mother Tree was a bit longer than the widest part of the clearing so when it fell many, many seasons ago the top part broke off against another tree. That hollow part now stood at a slant against that other tree and a crack shielded by ferns separated it from the rest of the massive tree. This part was the home of their leader.

The two warriors had now climbed up the toadstools to the den of Burninggold hidden by the old, woven branches of the tree so their group walked over to the two anxious protégés.

"Relax, Duskpaw," Dapplekit said, "You look like ants have invaded your pelt."

The pale gray protégé calmed down a bit, but still kneaded his paws impatiently, "I know, I know. But it's just so maddening waiting while they decide our fates. I mean what if I didn't pass."

His friend, the ginger tabby, put his tail along his back in comfort, "Don't worry, of course you passed. Your fighting skills are well practiced and you caught a vole AND a squirrel. All I got was two mangy thrushes." Though he sounded calm while saying this, Dapplekit could see the same impatience and worry Duskpaw expressed physically reflected in his orange orbs.

"Thanks, Foxpaw," Duskpaw murmured.

Before anymore can be said, their mentors, Burninggold, and the Lieutenant, Scarcoat, exited the leader's den and moved over to the Father Stump, the only thing that remained of Mother Tree's old companion. Leaping onto the stump, Burninggold yowled the summoning speech, "All cats who have Sparkclan pride coursing through their veins, gather in front of Father Stump for a clan meeting."

Since most cats were already in the clearing, it didn't take long for everyone to gather. The ancients left their sunbathing spot and sat at the edge of the assembled cats. The remaining warriors padded out of their den in the roots of Mother Tree, but the only one Dapplekit recognized was Butterblossom, Burninggold's mate. Their mother leapt out of the nursery; Frostedflower and Widowleg followed each with either Shadowkit or Bushkit in their mouths and sat in front of the nursery entrance, Widowleg keeping her kits under control. Finally, the only missing cat, Willowsong, stepped out of the infirmary and padded over to the top left edge of the crowd.

Turning her gaze forward, Dapplekit had an easy view of Scarcoat to her right of the stump and the mentors to her left of the stump. She was between Eaglepaw and Patchkit. She became baffled again when Eaglepaw again looked at his paws when he noticed their pelts touching. She rolled her eyes again as Burninggold started, "My clanmates, I have good news. Two of our protégés have just went through their warrior assessments and after discussing with their mentors, Scarcoat, and I have decided that both did exceedingly well. They have earned their warrior names."

Many of the cats in the audience cheered for Foxpaw and Duskpaw including her friends and littermates, but Dapplekit staid silent and waited for Burninggold to get to the important part.

"Duskpaw, step forward," the ginger leader called and the pale gay tom obliged, nervous with all the cats staring at him. Burninggold began the ceremony by placing his tail on Duskpaw's right shoulder, "Duskpaw, Sparkclan pride burns in your heart. Do you swear under the witness of not only your clanmates, but Lightclan to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan with your very life?"

Duskpaw nodded, "I do."

"Then by the power bestowed in me by our ancestors," he continued, "I hear by name you Duskshade for your pelt like the shadows born from the light dying after twilight. May you use your hunting skills and sharp eyes well as a warrior." He finished the ceremony by moving his tail to Duskpaw's…er, Duskshade's left shoulder and the new warrior backed away bowing. When he lifted his head, sheer joy makes his blue eyes seem un-dull for once.

"Foxpaw," Burninggold said to his son and he stepped forward eagerly.

"Foxpaw, Sparkclan pride burns in your heart as well. Do you swear under the witness of not only your clanmates, but Lightclan to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan with your very life?" he repeated while placing his tail on Foxpaw's shoulder.

"I do, Burninggold," Foxpaw replied strongly.

Burninggold nodded, "Then by the power bestowed in me by our ancestors, I hear by name you Foxfire for your burning passion to fight and live for your clan. May you use your power in battle and wisdom well as a warrior." He again switched shoulders and Foxpaw…I mean, Foxfire backed away bowed.

"Duskshade! Foxfire! Duskshade! Foxfire!" the whole clan shouted.

"Scarcoat, please pick the sunhigh and sundown patrols. Clan dismissed," Burninggold ended the meeting and the cats dispersed.

"Hawkwing, you lead the Sunhigh patrol. Fogfur, sundown," Scarcoat ordered a brown tabby and Dapplekit's father, "Cherrytip, Bramblestep, trade up with Darkstripes and Dawnheart on guard duty." The two warriors nodded a bit fearfully of the large, powerful, and battle-scarred dark lieutenant and sped off out of the bramble wall's entrance. Shortly after, the two warriors who were on guard duty padded back into the clearing. _Ha! I was right,_ Dapplekit thought when she saw the identities of the previous guards. Dawnheart was always visiting the nursery checking on his mate, Poppytail, while she and her littermates had an, er, important _learning_ experience with Darkstripes.

She turned to see their lieutenant calling cats to join their patrols.

"Spicesplash, Birchpaw, Buttercupblossom, you're with Hawkwing for the patrol. Skunkblaze lead a hunting patrol with Foxfire and Duskshade," Scarcoat called to the five cats and her good friend, Birchpaw, who raced over to the warriors and her mentor.

Then he turned to alert those who would join Fogfur on the sundown patrol, "Creampetal, Sparrowpaw, Brackenclaw, Eaglepaw, be ready at sundown." The four chosen cats nodded.

"I'd wish we had had time to congratulate the new warriors," Patchkit mewed.

Eaglepaw nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and they'll be really tired after their patrol and assessment so we'll have to wait 'til after they've rested, too."

They all seem a bit disappointed, but not Dapplekit. She actually thought they were kind of being mouse-brained to be disappointed about such a little thing and she would've said something about it too if another cat hadn't gotten her attention.

"Leafpaw," she whispered.

**Boring chapter I know, but now you know a little more about the Sparkclan cats so yay! Stay tuned for the next chapter (drum roll)…**

**Chapter 2. By the way, the two other kits in the Sparkclan part of the prologue were Eaglepaw (Eaglekit) and Sparrowpaw (Sparrowkit) if you didn't know.**

**R&R!(Read and Review)**


	3. Chapter 2:Dapple

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**(_italics_)=Dapplepaw, (normal)=me**

**Chapter 2**

_Padding away from her friends,_ _Dapplekit_ walked over to the opening of the infirmary where a young she-cat sat. She watched the commotion of the warrior ceremony and the naming of the patrols through emerald green slits making those who bothered to glance at her flinch away in fear. The she-cat seemed angry, but Dapplekit could tell that her cold demeanor was only a state created by her trying to mask her pain and sorrow.

Leafpaw was a pretty, light brown she-cat with a white underbelly, muzzle, and legs. She was also Foxpaw's, um, Foxfire's _(Man, this is hard)_ sister so she too should've become a warrior today with him and Duskshade, but sadly, that was not the case. Moons ago Duskshade, then Duskpaw, and Leafpaw had been out to practice partner hunting when they ran into a fox trying to make an old rabbit hole into her birthing den. Of course, their warriors wouldn't allow that.

Since the fox mother was heavily pregnant it wasn't too hard to beat, but because they knew this, Duskpaw and Leafpaw let their guard down. As a last attempt, the fox reared up and knocked Duskpaw away before attacking Leafpaw. It bit down on her left hind leg and refused to let go. It was an excruciatingly painful experience for Leafpaw and Duskpaw had to run to get help from the nearby patrol to save her from the fox's mighty bite. They eventually chased it out of clan territory, but Leafpaw's leg was in terrible condition.

So even now, it was still healing and would be at least another moon before she could get back to training. Though her brother and parents were sorry for her, no one could understand her sorrow in not being able to become a warrior when she rightfully deserved it.

"Hey, Leafpaw," Dapplekit mewed to her.

She jerked her head to the cat that called her name and though her shoulders remained sagged by misery; her eyes softened at the sight of Dapplekit. "Hey," she said plainly.

"Can you believe it? Your brother a warrior…and his name totally fits," Dapplekit talked on.

Leafpaw nodded her head slightly, "Yeah. Must be nice."

She flinched as the pretty kitty's shoulders sagged deeper as the weight of her pain increased.

"Your leg's looking better…" Dapplekit tried to continue the small talk, but she could see the she-cat was no longer listening and her eyes were clouded over. She sighed, "Hey, I know you're sad and everything, but buck up already! You'll get better soon enough so until then quit moping. Seriously, you're starting to get on my nerves being all depressed and stuff. Now smile before I make you." That last part came out as a hiss with her little claws unsheathing.

Shock replaced the gloom in Leafpaw's eyes at the kit's harsh words and fierce gaze. "I-I-I'm sorry?" she stuttered unsure of how to respond. Dapplekit nodded curtly and cuffed the older cat over the ear before switching her glare to a playful smirk and despite her despair, Leafpaw too smiled honestly feeling more joyful.

* * *

A half moon had passed since Dapplekit's talk with Leafpaw and the two had become great friends. Foxfire, Burninggold, Buttercupblossom, and all of Sparkclan were genuinely happy that the protégé had regained some of her old cheerful personality. But now, the spotlight had again fallen on our favorite dappled cat.

"Mother, STOP!" Dapplekit complained. Her mother was frantically grooming her pelt, licking every single hair that stuck out even when she LIKED her fur poking out here and there. It added character.

"Oh, quit fussing. I won't let any of my kits look like they were raised by badgers when they become protégés," Snowpelt chided.

Dapplekit rolled her eyes and then looked pleadingly at her littermates to rescue her, but they nodded "no" purring in pleasure at her torment. She glared at their already groomed pelts; she had willingly let them go first while she tried to escape until the ceremony, but Frostedflower and Widowleg had pinned her down. She huffed at all the nurses and her littermates.

"All cats who have Sparkclan pride coursing through their veins, gather in front of Father Stump for a clan meeting," they heard Burninggold call.

"Finally!" Dapplekit exclaimed while escaping from under her mother's tongue and pulled out of the nursery with her mother giving shouts of protest all the while, "They're not ready yet!"

Ignoring the nurse, she slipped into the already assembled cats and found a spot between her father and Cherrytip. The cream tom looked down at her with an excited smile, his reddish-brown tipped ears and tail twitched with excitement. _He's probably hoping to get his first protégé,_ Dapplekit guessed.

The landing of cats alerted her that her mother, littermates, and the other nurses (minus Poppytail, of course) had exited the nursery. She locked eyes with her mother who was obviously upset with her. The mostly white she-cat shrunk into Fogfur's pelt and he _mrrowed_ softly with amusement.

"Cats of Sparkclan," Burninggold began at last, "Today I am proud to say that Snowpelt and Fogfur's litter have reached the age of six moons and will be becoming protégés."

He waited as the clan cheered for the kits and their parents sat up proudly, "Cloudkit, come forward." Her sister moved through the cats from the side and stood below Burninggold. "Do you promise to learn the ways of a warrior and never to stray from the path of its noble code?"

"Of course," Cloudkit replied proudly; her sister snorted and got cuffed by their father.

"This she-cat as of today will be known as Cloudpaw until she earns her warrior name," Burninggold paused to point out a cat in the crowd, "Turtlewhisker shall be her mentor."

Dapplekit noticed a cat jump in surprise, but eventually padded forward revealing a tortoiseshell and pale gray she-cat. She timidly set her yellow orbs on Burninggold.

"Turtlewhisker you were trained well by Buttercupblossom and are the clan's best tracker. I hope you will pass on all your skills to Cloudpaw." Turtlewhisker faltered for a minute, but then nodded and turned to ceremonially lick Cloudpaw on her head claiming her as her protégé.

They walked off as their leader called the next kit, "Patchkit," the tom padded forward even more nervously than Turtlewhisker, "Do you promise to learn the ways of a warrior and never to stray from the path of its noble code?"

He nodded, "Uh-huh!"

"This tom will be known as Patchpaw until he earns his warrior name. Cherrytip is an excellent warrior who trained hard as Wolffang's last protégé; he will be Patchpaw's mentor." The mostly cream tom eagerly leapt up, his yellow orbs shimmering with bliss. He too licked his new protégé on the top of his head before rejoining the crowd.

"Lastly, will Dapplekit please step forward," he hadn't even finished yet when Dapplekit started to push cats out of her way to Father Stump. Her clanmates hissed and lashed their tails as she rudely passed them to eventually plop down under Burninggold's amber gaze. "Someone's eager," he purred with amusement, "Do you promise to learn the ways of a warrior and never to stray from the path of its noble code?"

She nodded vigorously, "Of course."

"Dapplekit, you shall be known as Dapplepaw until you earn you're warrior name," again, he pointed out a new mentor with his tail, "Bramblestep, you were Darkstripes protégé so I know you are fine a warrior. It's fine time you too trained your first protégé." The familiar dark tabby stepped forward until he was at her side. Looking into his forest green eyes, she knew instantly that they would work well together. He bent down and licked her head.

"Cloudpaw! Patchpaw! Dapplepaw! Cloudpaw! Patchpaw! Dapplepaw!" the clan cheered with their parents, Eaglepaw, and Birchpaw being the loudest.

Burninggold nodded, "Clan dismissed."

After all the time she waited for this, it felt like it ended all too quickly. "Well, we should get going."

She turned to her new mentor confuzzled, "What do you mean?"

He flicked his head to the entrance, "While the older protégés work on your nests, we will go with your littermates and their mentors to show you the territory as a border patrol." Her ears immediately perked up. _Going outside the camp for the first time AND my first patrol. Flipping turtles!_

They headed over to the entrance where her brother and sister were waiting with their mentors. "Hey, wait up!" They turned to see Brackenclaw running up to them with Eaglepaw. "Burninggold said we could go with you," he said with a smile. The others seemed OK with this, but she saw some of the excitement fade from her mentor's eyes. _Why would he not want his brother to join us?_ she thought.

Dapplepaw looked the identical tom up and down and thought of what she knew about him. For the first time, she noticed his eyes were amber and not green like his brother's. He excelled at not only hunting and fighting, but tracking too, only second best to Turtlewhisker. He got Eaglepaw as his protégé not even half a moon after he became a warrior and she didn't know anyone, even in other clans, who didn't like him especially. One could go as far as to say he was perfect. That's when it clicked.

When the others headed off into the forest, she stopped her mentor with her tail. "It must be hard…living in your brother's shadow," she mewed quietly. Obvious shock and shame at being found out twinkled in Bramblestep's eyes, but soon compassion and a small smile that didn't reach his eyes showed on his face.

"Thank you." With that, they sped off to catch up with the rest of the patrol.

* * *

Running through the trees, Dapplepaw's eyes widened in wonder at seeing her territory for the first time. Their land consisted entirely of a large forest filled with many types of trees from spruce to oak, ferns, bushes, and other undergrowth. As they ran, she could faintly scent prey like squirrels and birds she recognized from the fresh-kill pile, but knew she wouldn't be able to catch them without any training yet. Too occupied with checking out the scenery, Dapplepaw didn't notice the patrol slow down and ran straight into Patchpaw's behind, "Oof!"

"Hey, watch it," he said. She ignored him and walked over to her mentor to see why they'd slowed, "Why are we going so slow; I'm not tired or anything."

"Yes, but we're nearing our borders," Bramblestep answered turning to her, "You see, out territory is wider at the west end and slowly narrows as you go north-east ending at Misty Fall."

"What's Misty Fall?"

"You'll see."

They continued on and it wasn't long until the trees started to thin out and the smell of foreign lands enveloped her nostrils. Suddenly, all the trees ended and they were in a clearing where only grass grew. Cloudpaw and Patchpaw faltered feeling exposed, but Dapplepaw kept walking even when the others stopped. "The mixed smell of the clans is so-"

"Dapplepaw, NO!" Before she could react, Bramblestep had bowled her over and she was on the ground. Getting up hissing and tail lashing, she turned on her mentor fangs bared and claws unsheathed. "What was that for," she hissed furiously.

Bramblestep was unfazed by her anger and simply flicked his ears to not far behind him. She looked and jumped (sheathing her claws at the same time) at what was there. Where she was about to step, a huge circular hole sat in the ground at least 10 fox-lengths wide all around. She padded up carefully to its edge where even the grass refused to grow revealing bare rock; looking down she couldn't even see a mouse-length down of the rock face because of thick mist that kept how deep the cavern was a secret.

"Misty Fall?" she asked already knowing the answer. Bramblestep nodded and her sister and Eaglepaw shivered thinking of what would've happened if Bramblestep hadn't stop her. On the other hand, Patchpaw acted like his normal mouse-brain self and came up to her side. "Whoa," he whispered checking out the hole. "Thanks," she mumbled to Bramblestep mad because she hadn't seen the fall herself because she was acting all awestruck. Before Bramblestep could say anything he was tackled to the ground. Dapplepaw turned to see a golden brown tom pinning him down. She crouched and hissed, her claws unsheathed, at the enemy cat along with her clanmates.

Before anyone could strike, four more cats joined that one; a golden brown tabby, mottled tom, white and gray she-cat, and fluffy dark tabby protégé. The other protégé also crouched down ready to attack. "What's going on here?" the white she-cat demanded uneasily eyeing the large patrol.

Quickly, the tom still pinning Bramblestep answered, "This cat is over the border, Ivyshadow!" He unsheathed his claws ready to slit her mentor's throat open with sick hooked claws. Yowling a battle cry, she launched herself at the unsuspecting attacker and pushed him off of Bramblestep so he could escape to their side of the border. The enemy cat was already up ready to counterattack, but the golden brown tabby stopped him with his tail.

"Stop it!" he ordered with authority, "Obviously, there is some sort of misunderstanding so stop being a mouse-brain and calm down." The other golden brown tom hissed, but obliged as the cat, who she now knew as Ivyshadow, stepped forward,

"He's right; I'm sorry for Amberpaw's rash behavior. He's young and still foolish." Dapplepaw heard Amberpaw hiss at the insults.

Brackenclaw also stepped forward and took control, "No, it's our fault. This new protégé was about to fall into Misty Fall and my brother stopped her, but ended up on the wrong side of the border." The she-cat looked shocked that a cat had almost been lost to the haunting abyss and simply nodded as she lead her patrol away, the tom, Amberpaw, hissing and lashing his tail the whole time. Patchpaw stuck his tongue out at him. They too turned to explore the rest of the territory, but Dapplepaw stopped when she felt eyes burning holes in her back.

She turned to see the tabby who stopped Amberpaw staring at her. She couldn't help but be swept away by his strange eyes; one green and one golden. An icy feeling crawled up her spine as their eyes remained locked, but the surprisingly-not-unpleasant chill disappeared as one of the warriors in their patrol called him _(probably the reddish tom since the voice sounds male and unfamiliar)_ and he padded away. _What was THAT?_

* * *

The encounter with the enemy cats, who they later learned were of Terraclan, was a day behind them and now they knew their whole territory more or less. Though, that was not on Patchpaw and Cloudpaw's mind for today they would start their battle training, but Dapplepaw on the other hand, couldn't seem to forget that strange Terraclan tom. She shook it off though as Bramblestep summoned her with a wave of his tail.

"Is it time to begin?" she asked eagerly.

He nodded giving a small _mrrow_ of laughter. Her littermates squealed excitedly, but she kept her cool. As she padded off to the entrance, she was suddenly rammed into by another cat.

"Again!" she yelled, "Hey, watch where-" she stopped at the look on the cat's face. Birchpaw's fur was all fluffed up in alarm and her brown eyes wild with fear. She turned away without apologizing to her and screamed, "Terraclan is attacking!"

Before she could comprehend what the older protégé announced, hoards of cats smelling like pine and sun streamed into their camp. Sparkclan's warriors were immediately in action and found an opponent to attack. Overwhelmed by the sudden change of atmosphere, Dapplepaw backed up confused on what to do causing her to be startled when she backed into Patchpaw and Cloudpaw who were cowering in fear behind her.

She turned on them hissing, confusion gone, "Stop acting like frightened kits, we're protégés now."

"But we are frightened and we have no battle training, yet," her sister hissed back as logical as ever.

Suddenly, Fogfur was thrown next to them. "Get to the nursery and protect the queens," their father ordered. Before anyone could complain, the cat who had thrown their father in the first place, a brown and gray she-cat, leapt back on him and their battle continued. With nothing else to do, Dapplepaw lead her littermates as fast as possible through the throngs of brawling cats and jumped into the nursery, scaring the dirt out of the nurses, kits, and ancients.

"Oh, thank Lightclan it's you," Their mother said. With all the commotion, she hadn't been able to move out of the nursery yet. They nodded and turned to defend the entrance alongside their mother. Good thing they did because as soon as they turned around, a tom reeking of Terraclan leapt in after them. Dapplepaw recognized him as the mottled tom from yesterday.

"Get out, Ratstreak!" Snowpelt growled. _So that's his name,_ Dapplepaw thought, _Well it doesn't matter; he'll be crow-food in a minute._ While she thought that, Snowpelt and Ratstreak pounced on each other at the exact same moment, but the larger tom forced her mother under him. Although, that's what the white nurse wanted.

Using her hind legs, she batted at his exposed underbelly scratching it up. Ratstreak's face showed pain, but he made no sound. Suddenly, she pushed her strong back legs up and forced the tom out of the nursery entrance. Jumping up she ordered her kits, "Stay here and guard the nursery," and followed after Ratstreak back into battle. As soon as they lost sight of her, the she-cat's battling with the enemy tom was lost among the noise of the other fighting cats.

Dapplepaw walked up to the entrance preparing to leave. "And where do you think you're going?" Cloudpaw demanded.

"I can't just wait here for the battle to come to me; I have to go to the battle," and with that she left her brother and sister to guard the nursery. When she climbed out on top of the Mother Tree, she had a perfect view of the two clans brawling in their clearing; shredding the undergrowth and spreading their fresh-kill everywhere. _Now what do I do? I don't know how to fight._

A sudden wail of pain in a familiar tone gave her the answer. Turning, she saw a new, unfamiliar Terraclan she-cat on top of her mother. The sight was utterly appalling; the mottled ginger she-cat had one paw on Snowpelt's throat and was using the other to rake her sharp Terraclan claws down her flank, staining her mother's white fur red. She expertly switched her paws tasks back and forth to rip both sides of Snowpelt's flank repeatedly. Crimson blood pooled under her mother.

"NO!" she yowled as she leapt into battle only to be knocked down by Ratstreak.

"Stay out of Spottedlight's way, protégé," he hissed. The anger Dapplepaw felt by being ordered by this mange-pelt was too much and suddenly, seasons of experience in battle flew through her muscles and all became clear.

In a flash, she was on her paws and raced under the shocked Ratstreak to rake her claws down his already cut underbelly, spilling his blood on the dirt floor. As he yowled in pain, she came out from under his tail, turned, and leapt on his back; digging her claws into his shoulders and biting down causing more blood to spill. _This smell of blood is sick. All our blood…it smells the same, but…I must fight on for my clan,_ she thought.

Lost in her thoughts, Ratstreak used the chance to roll on his back to squash her with his weight. The air was crushed out of her lungs and she knowingly went limp. Thinking he'd won, the reddish tom got up and looked for his next opponent. That's when Dapplepaw jumped back on her paws and chomped down hard on his tail. He hissed with pain and he turned to pounce on her again, claws bared.

At that moment, the buzz she felt earlier intensified a hundred times more shocking. She could swear her pelt was glowing with electricity and all of it accumulated in her legs so…she jumped, just as Ratstreak launched at her. Expecting to immediately fall back on top of the tom, Dapplepaw was surprised to see the clearing growing farther and farther away when she looked down. She panicked as she went higher and higher into the air until she reached the treetops and finally started to plummet.

Any normal cat would be terrified thinking their bones would shatter as soon as they hit the hard, unforgiving ground, but not Dapplepaw. She angled her front legs downward so when she landed on the confused Ratstreak who was still searching for her below, she'd be able to dig her long claws (trademark of the tree-climbing Sparkclan) deep into him. Her plan worked perfectly. She crashed down on the unsuspecting Ratstreak and a hideous crack was heard where blood pooled around her claws. The tom wailed as loud as his lungs would allow him and then limped out of the clearing awkwardly trying to keep as little weight on his hind legs as possible.

The limping Ratstreak passed another cat from his clan who streaked over to her, but through the still fighting cats the only thing she could make out were the familiar bi-colored eyes. The cold crawling went up her spine again even when he passed right by her to the she-cat now SLOWLY killing her mother.

"Stop, Spottedlight. You've made your point," he told her.

"Stay out of this, mouse-heart," she hissed with more venom than the most poisonous snake, "This is my battle. I won't rest until Fogfur knows how it feels to have your mate wrongfully ripped away." Dapplepaw's eyes spread wide at this she-cat's horrendous plans for her mother and leapt to the tom's side despite the fact that they were currently at war.

He didn't notice and if he did, he ignored her presence as he gently placed his tail on Spottedlight's back. She jumped away, her chocolate eyes aglow with crazed rage, and unknowingly allowed her mother to drag herself away to the safety of the infirmary while a scarlet river trailed her. Anguish distorted the young she-cat's face as she saw the obvious bad condition her mother was in. _Please live. We NEED you. Father needs you…Wolffang needs you_, she thought suddenly remembering her grandfather.

"Now is not the time for revenge, Spottedlight!" Dapplepaw's attention was again stolen by the strange tom as he pleaded the mad mottled she-cat, "Ratstreak has collapsed outside the wall and is in critical condition."

The rage in her eyes suddenly switched to worry, fear, and sorrow. "Brother?" she hissed, but didn't wait for anyone to answer as she charged through battling cats ordering them to move it. _So they're littermates?_ Dapplepaw wondered, _Dung, two awful cats born at the same time. I pity their mother._

"TERRACLAN!" a booming voice yowled. She turned her head to see another tom who looked like a larger and older version of the one next to her called out to the intruding cats and they all halted their battles to listen, "We are retreating…for now." The last part came out as a growl at the unmoving cat below him and then he ran out of their camp, his clanmates following.

"Later," the handsome tom _(Whoa! Handsome? _Hey, how'd you'd get in here?_)_ purred to her nonchalantly telling her he knew she was there the whole time before leaving with the last of his clan. _Is he nuts or something? We were suppose to be in the heat of battle!_ Before she could question the sanity of the stranger any more, another yowl was let loose through the clearing. _What now?_ she thought angrily.

"That was amazing!" Patchpaw exclaimed bounding up to her with Cloudpaw on his heels. _Well, he's obviously fine,_ thought Dapplepaw.

"I know. I still can't figure out how I battled so well," she responded.

"No, no!" he said shaking his head, "I mean that JUMP! You were almost totally flying!" Dapplepaw stared wide-eyed at her brother, _He saw that?_

But the shock vanished when she saw Buttercupblossom dash over to the cat that was once under the large golden brown tabby who she suspected was the leader of Terraclan. Looking closer at the blood-covered cat she could faintly make out ginger fur and realization crushed her like a boulder, "Burninggold!"

All of the clan, despite their own injuries, made their way over to surround their still leader.

"Why isn't he moving?"

"Did he lose his last life?"

"I could swear he had more!"

"Yeah! This is only like…his seventh!"

Several cats called out with worry and fear evident, but one cat ignored them all and pushed her way through. "Move, let me through!" Willowsong demanded, the tip of her thick, curly pale cream tail twitching with irritation. "Skunkstripe is right; this is only his seventh life. Burninggold will rejoin us momentarily." Just as she said this, their leader babbled back to life and everyone heaved sighs of relief while Buttercupblossom smothered him with loving licks.

Willowsong sighed, "Can this get any worse?" _Never say that,_ Dapplepaw thought somewhat jokingly, but it became all too serious when Frostedflower rushed up to Willowsong's side.

"Poppytail's kits are coming!"

**Well, is that enough entertainment for ya?Sorry for late updating,family reunion,poor planning skills,yada in next time for the mystery tabby's POV and a look into Terraclan.**

**P.S- "Flipping turtles" is a saying my old 8th grade science teacher uses in several situations so though she owns it, I will use it in her honor.**

**R&R **


	4. Chapter 3:Tiger

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**And to **dudanni5**, thanks for reviewing,faving,AND following. Plushies of all of Fogfur's and Snowpelt's litter for you. I tried fixing things up like you said and hope it's better.**

**Chapter 3**

_Tigerpaw ran to catch up with his clanmates_ as they swiftly retreated from Sparkclan's camp. _Well, that was interesting,_ he thought leaving behind the bramble wall; the thickets between the tall oaks trampled by the motion of several cats breaking in.

Pushing the battle from his mind, Tigerpaw's thoughts wondered to Spottedlight. The mottled ginger she-cat's ears were still pulled back and her fur bristled despite the fact that the battle scene was far behind them now. _What she did was going too far. I know she's upset by Squirrel-leap's death, but a lot of cats were and still are._ At these thoughts, he turned to look at his best friend. Blazepaw's bright ginger fur was only slightly cut up and he wasn't bleeding anymore as far as he could see. His chocolate eyes were already lit up with their regular cheer and happiness, again.

His friend was Spottedlight and Squirrelleap's only surviving kit and his death had definitely affected them the most. Spottedlight wasn't always this furious and revengeful; she actually used to be one of Terraclan's most best warriors along with Squirrelleap who had also been their lieutenant. They were extremely close, even for mates, and loved their sons dearly. All that disappeared with his life.

It all happened just over five moons ago. His mind was sucked into his memories…

#############

_A golden tom strode down the hidden tunnel into the large underground clearing. Following behind him were three other cats. He quickly ran over to a massive boulder on an island formed by the split river going around it and looked up to the cat that sat upon it. A young cat secretly eavesdropped from where he was eating a mouse behind the large rock._

"_They've done it again, Rockbronze!" the golden tom hissed to his leader. The golden brown tabby jumped down from the boulder and over the thin river until he stood next to his lieutenant who dropped something at his paws._

_It was a water vole, but the prey's kill was obviously unclean and messy. Even from his hiding spot behind Terra Rock, the strong smell of Sparkclan wafted into his nostrils. A subtle growl escaped from his throat._

_Rockbronze hissed, "Those tree-climbing mouse-hearts! I warned them at the last gathering, but obviously they didn't heed it." He stared deeply into Squirrelleap's amber orbs, "We must show them that they've crossed the wrong clan." He leapt back up to Terra Rock and summoned his warriors with a booming yowl. Tigerpaw padded out of his hiding spot and joined his clanmates assembled on the other sides of the river._

"_Cats of Terraclan," Rockbronze began, "We have been trifled with for the last time! These warriors," he spat out the word like rotten crow-food, "of Sparkclan have repeatedly ignored our boundaries and have stolen prey that is rightfully ours. We shall take this no longer!"_

"_YEAH!" his clan yowled in agreement._

"_While we are away Spottedlight is in charge. Nightstrike, Fawnpelt, and Thunderstep will stay with her to guard the camp. The rest of you, warriors and protégés alike, come with me!" Their leader finished and ran up the tunnel to the pine forest above leading to Sparkclan territory. Yowls of excitement and anticipation rang out of his clanmates as they looked forward to the battle to come. Tigerpaw, on the other hand, couldn't seem to share their enthusiasm._

_"Good luck," he overheard Spottedlight whisper lovingly to her mate._

_Squirrelleap purred, "I don't need it, but thanks." He licked her ear affectionately before leaving to take up Rockbronze's side._

_Deep down inside, a feeling stirred in Tigerpaw that made him think this wasn't right. That something was off. He couldn't shake the feeling that something awful awaits them in this battle._

#############

And boy was he correct. Not only had they lost their lieutenant, but a young protégé, Sagepaw, who had been Blazepaw's brother. Both of his clanmates had been through too much because of those fox-hearts.

The change in texture of the ground below alerted Tigerpaw that they had entered their territory. More light streamed in through the angled needles of the pine forest and the tough grass warmed his paws, unlike the dew-covered grass of those squirrel wanna-bes' land.

He slowed until he was far in the back of his clanmates until he completely stopped all together. Drinking in the scent of his home, his sore muscles relaxed and the pain was pushed to the farest corners of his mind. Tigerpaw had been one of the lucky ones and had few cuts and scratches from the battle. He had fought with a protégé and a cream-and-white cat he remembered as Creampetal.

Realizing his clan might be mad at him for diddle-daddling, he planned to hunt. Terraclan wasn't as strict with rules as the other clans and found it practical for all cats to be able to hunt when they saw fit. Their weary warriors would need a nice meal, anyway. Opening his mouth and closing his eyes to really focus, scents roamed along the bridge of his mouth. _Hm, there's a water vole…A couple of marsh birds and…a skink nearby!_

Smirking (never smiling) with triumph, he dropped into a hunter's crouch and stalked towards a far off cluster of bushes. Thanks to the setting sun, Tigerpaw had plenty of shadows to hide his approach and blend with his darker fur. He pushed as close to the ground as he could without disturbing any leaves with his low tail, put his weight on his front legs, and locked his eyes on the water vole. _A big boy now, eh?_ Padding forward on silent paws, the vole, that was to preoccupied with searching for his own meal, had no clue that he was about to become one. Then he struck and it was all over in a flash. Burying his catch in the soft, moist dirt, Tigerpaw ran off to find his next target.

###############

By the time he was walking back to pick-up his first kill, the proud protégé had caught every piece of prey that he had scented earlier except one of the marsh birds. It had fluttered away while its friend got snagged. He had so much in fact that he couldn't carry it all. _Thank Lightclan for blossom-time._ Laying down all his catches, he tried to figure out how to get them all back when he heard rustling from behind. In an instant, his sharp claws were unsheathed and his fur was bristling with a rush of adrenaline.

"Whoa, cool it there, of us who think alike should stick together," a cat meowed.

At the sound of that voice, he immediately relaxed, "Hey, Blazepaw."

The familiar ginger tom walked out of the bushes dragging along a falcon. His eyes widened at the catch, "You caught a falcon? On your own?" Even with his shock, his voice remained monotone as always.

Blazepaw nodded, "Uh-huh, but it's just a young one. He totally had no clue to watch out from shadows above him!" A purr of satisfaction came out of his best friend causing him to smirk (seriously, this is the closest he gets to a smile). Tigerpaw knew that falcons were used to creatures watching for _their_ shadows, not the other way around. "But look at all you caught," his friend went on easily showing his own emotions, "You need a hand with all that." He nodded and Blazepaw took the vole to carry with his falcon.

Jogging with their loads, it took a bit longer than normal for them to reach the entrance. To get to their camp, cats had to go through a tunnel hidden by a patch of tall grass. Pointed stones stuck out of the dirt walls all the way through. Padding through the entrance, they tried to keep their fresh-kill as close as possible to make the travel in the narrow tunnel as easy as possible. They ignored the other numerous downhill tunnels in the wall knowing that they weren't good for anything except redirecting flood waters. To their relief (as always), the tunnel grew wider until it eventually opened into a huge, underground cavern. Cats roamed around the clearing eating, sharing tongues, boasting about their fights in the previous battle, or just resting in the sun shining in through the multiple cracks in the ceiling. You'd think this would be bad on rainy or snowy days, but Lightclan made it so that stuff staid out and the warm stuff staid in. Plus, it helped that the rock their camp was molded into absorbed the heat well to last long after sundown.

As they dragged their catches to the fresh-kill pile, they noticed many of their clanmates admiring their catches. Eventually, Rockbronze himself came over to them.

"Well done! Your work is stunning, but while you two were gone, _poor_ Amberpaw was stuck with all the protégé chores since the younger ones are showing their mentors how they fared in battle," he complained mockingly, but then shrugged it off with a deep, maniacal laugh that they swore shook the whole tunnel system. _Is that a tunnel crumbling in the Badlands?_, Tigerpaw joked in his head.

"How's Ratstreak?" Blazepaw asked. The worry for his uncle was evident in his voice.

"Honestly, it's not good," their leader said solemnly, "Earthwhisper thinks his spine is broken because he has no use of his hind legs." Blazepaw looked down dejectedly.

"Anyway, Tigerpaw take your catches and the falcon to the nurses and Blazepaw, the bird to Shredcoat," Rockbronze ordered, his tone completely serious and somewhat frightening. The sudden mood change made Blazepaw shiver, Tigerpaw was used to his father's strange persona. "Take what you want from the pile afterwards, but don't forget to be checked out by Earthwhisper." He padded away without another glance at the protégés.

Abiding by his orders, Blazepaw nipped up the sora and trotted to the top-left side of the stone clearing's wall where the ancients' den was, and Tigerpaw bit onto a wing and dragged the falcon, skink, and water vole over to the opposite side of the top wall. He bit harder as he prepared to leap the small river and tried to get some height as to not wet the prey. He made it over, the falcon's feathers just skimming the river's surface. It didn't even ripple. Before he even reached the cave opening though, a group of hungry kits stormed out. He slightly flinched as they all started to mewl all over him.

"Now, now, little ones," a light brown nurse purred. Tigerpaw's eyes warmed at the sight of his mother as two other nurses padded out.

"Should've known _your_ kits would cause trouble," a pale ginger she-cat exclaimed snobbily, locking her green eyes on the other nurse.

"_My_ kits?! Your kits act like you starve them," the white she-cat with pale ginger patches retorted.

"How dare you say I neglect my kits!"

"I say it as I see it."

The two growled at each other while Fawnpelt rolled her green eyes, "Those two. They're always arguing, such competitive sisters." His mother then looked smugly at him.

He huffed, "Amberpaw and I aren't like that." _Are we?_

Fawnpelt simply smiled and licked his ear affectionately before padding after the gaggle of kits trying to drag the large bird away. Tigerpaw watched them a bit longer, but left for the fresh-kill pile when his stomach rumbled.

Upon arrival, he hooked a fat toad from the pile and Blazepaw showed up to take a mole before they strolled off to the ledge-steps in the rock wall leading up to the protégé's den. Lying down on the cliff-balcony outside their den, they ravishingly tore into their meals.

"Oh Lightclan, I was STARVING! How can any of these cats think of doing anything after such a tiring battle except eat and sleep," Blazepaw whined.

Tigerpaw let a _mrrow_ of amusement slip, "We're not all lazy, gluttons like you."

"Well, you can't be," he replied seriously, "Someone has to catch my food and fetch me new bedding."

"Well, if you're so tired then why don't you go join Shredcoat in the ancients' den?" A cat ranted.

They turned to see no other than Amberpaw. _Ugh, I'm not in the mood for my brother,_ Tigerpaw thought. The two used to be close,but the pride of being Rockbronze's oldest son got to his brother's head. Now he thought he was the greatest cat in the clan, second only to their father. Amberpaw idolized Rockbronze. Tigerpaw couldn't care less (though if you forced him…).

"I would," Blazepaw answered him, "But I don't want to catch fleas. Mouse bile stinks!" Amberpaw snorted, but Tigerpaw sweat dropped worriedly. _He's absolutely serious…_

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud yowl, "All cats as solid and strong as the earth, gather around Terra Rock for a clan meeting." _Fox-dung._

Grudgingly, the two protégés followed the newly lit up Amberpaw down the steps, knowing all too well what awaited them considering their hunting assessments were yesterday. As they found seats, Rockbronze continued,

"My clanmates, today is a good day. Four young and strong cats will be joining our ranks as strong Terraclan warriors!" He waited for the cats' cheer to bubble down before continuing, "Amberpaw step forward."

Eagerly, the golden-brown tom bounded over the river and up Terra Rock next to his father. "You have shown Terraclan strength flows through your veins. Do you swear under the witness of not only your clanmates, but Lightclan to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan with your very life?" he said starting the ceremony

"I do!" Amberpaw yowled and Tigerpaw chuckled.

"Then by the power bestowed in me by our ancestors, I hear by name you Amberwall for your endurance and strong, unmovable build. May you use your strength and enthusiasm well as a warrior." His brother beamed as he backed away from their father and retook his seat. _Loser. Getting all happy about nothing more than a name change. And enthusiasm? More like showing off skills he doesn't have._

"I hear by name you Blazefur for your flaming pelt and bright personality! May you use your friendliness and trustworthiness well as a warrior." Turning, he saw he had missed his best friend's ceremony because of his scolding of his brother in his head. He frowned at this, _Now who's the loser? Too busy talking to yourself to acknowledge probably one of the happiest moments of Blazefur's life. _Then it was his turn.

The weight of his father's tail appeared on his right shoulder. "You have shown Terraclan strength flows through your veins. Do you swear under the witness of not only your clanmates, but Lightclan to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan with your very life, Tigerpaw?"

"Yeah," he said gruffly, but Rockbronze smiled proudly none the less.

"Then by the power bestowed in me by our ancestors, I hear by name you Tigersoul for your fierceness and maturity in all that you do. May you use your power and leadership well as a warrior." The weight switched to his other shoulder as he backed away and he just barely made out his father's proud look. Someone hissed lowly in the front of the crowd, but only he could hear it. _Eat it, Amberwall,_ he thought smugly with his tail swaying from side to side. As he sat next to his scowling brother, he finally let the pride of finally being a warrior wash over him. He could make out his mother staring proudly at them. The ceremony ended when Calmpaw, another denmate of his since they were in the nursery, got her warrior name, Calmstorm. Her pale gray and silver fur seemed to glow with overabundant joy.

"Amberwall! Blazefur! Tigersoul! Calmstorm! Amberwall! Blazefur! Tigersoul! Calmstorm!"

**#############**

Tigersoul had been sitting his vigil outside the hidden entrance to the tunnel for hours and it was already moonhigh. _Ugh, can this get any worse?_ he thought wearily. As if by a cruel act of faith, thunder boomed overhead and soon, a torrent of water unleashed on the new warrior.

_And of course, I'm the only one who gets the outside vigil,_ he thought clearly unhappy. To make things even worse (if that's possible), his stomach suddenly growled loud enough to scare off all the nearby prey. He huffed. _That doesn't count as talking,_ he thought gloomily as he hunched over now fully aware of the hollowness in his tummy.

One more rumble from his stomach was one too many and he decided to do the unthinkable; he abandoned his vigil. Stomping angrily through the muddy forest, his golden brown fur now dark and sticking close to his body, he tried vainly to sniff out any signs of prey, but all trails had been washed away by the rain. _Great, now I broke the warrior code for nothing._ He'd rather take a stroll in the rain than sit in it, so he still didn't return to his post. _The others are positioned evenly through the tunnel so if there's trouble, they'll warn the clan, but then I'd get in trouble…_ He shrugged the last thought off not really caring.

Beautiful moonlight shone blurrily through the pine needles and rain. It made him think. About what? That protégé. The one who apparently almost fell into Misty Fall and for some reason, stood by his side when he was confronting Spottedlight. And also…the cat that jumped all the way to the treetops! _I don't even want to begin trying to figure that out so let's move to the next question. Why would she do that, stand by my side? Did she forget we were in a middle of battle or what? She seemed pretty young so maybe she was just being stupid._ Then again, a strange gut feeling told him that if she'd heard that, she'd probably try to kick his tail. He snorted annoyed, _She-cats._

All of a sudden, the smell of other cats dragged him out of his thoughts and he noticed his surroundings for the first time. Turning around, the aforementioned Misty Fall was completely out of sight. _Well, this can't be good._ Just as he thought this, the smell of cats came closer and he could finally identify the familiar scent. _Even in this rain, I can smell the weaklings' stench of _flowers_ and _thorns._ Sparkclan!_ The border was too far away for him to have had "made a mistake" without them gaining a reason to accuse Terraclan of more wrong-doing (especially when _they_ were in the wrong these days). But much to his disdain, when he looked for shelter he saw nothing, but thorn bushes and he was NOT getting his pelt torn to pieces. _Seriously, how can they stand getting pricked all the time._

"Do you smell Terraclan?" a she-cat asked.

"Well, they did just retreat out of here so why shouldn't we," a tom said this time.

Another tom butted in with humor in his voice, "Yeah, those cowards stink like dirty crow-food."

_Why that little piece of-_He cut off as he stupidly let an angry growl out.

"You guys heard that, right?" the she-cat growled back.

"Come on!" the insulting tom ordered as they picked up speed in Tigersoul's direction.

_Fox dung!_ He shut his eyes tight when the sound of the Sparkclan cats' paws was only fox-lengths away. He stiffened, ready to be attacked, when the thorns parted to reveal the three-cat patrol.

"Stop right there, intru-" Tigersoul waited for him to continue, but he heard no more. After a painfully moment of silence, he finally opened his eyes to see the patrol looking through and around the brambles for the intruder that they definitely smelled. _What are they doing?_

"This is so weird," a long-furred, black she-cat with a white stripe hissed, "I swear I can smell a Terraclan cat RIGHT HERE!"

A tom he knew, Foxpaw, spoke back to her, "I know what you mean, Skunkblaze, but we can all see that we were wrong." His voice told him he wasn't the insulting one so Tigersoul turned to glare with his fangs bared at the remaining tom.

He's a dark tabby tom known as Darkstripes. "Stupid Terraclan. When those mouse-hearts fled they must of stunk up our territory with their underground stank." _Oh that's it._

Giving up the idea of staying hidden (however he's doing that), he launched at the pompous tom bowling him over, but tried to hide in a space between farther off brambles immediately after. "W-W-Who d-did that?" the now furious tom stammered. _What is he blind?!_

The others had already started padding off and turned back to look at him like he was a flying hedgehog or something. "Who did what?" the she-cat, Skunkblaze, demanded a bit annoyed. Probably from her long fur now clogged with rainwater.

"S-Someone knocked me o-over," he continued to stutter.

Skunkblaze looked around, "We already checked and we all know nobody's here so you must just be getting sick from being in all this rain."

Darkstripes seemed unconvinced, but got to his paws and left grumbling angrily with his clanmates. Blinking completely flabbergasted, Tigersoul slowly started to back away. _What's going on? Why don't they see me?_ Too engrossed in his thoughts, the young warrior backed right into a recently formed puddle. He spun around and jumped both in surprise and fear. _W-Where am I?! Mouse-dung, I stuttered. But seriously, where did I go?_ Looking into the puddle he saw…nothing. His reflection was not there.

Thinking over the encounter with the Sparkclan patrol and what he just saw in the puddle, Tigersoul finally realized what had happened. _I'm…invisible_.

*bum*bum* bum* bum* bum* bum* bum* bum* bum*_...What is that sound?!_ He whirled around and desperately scanned his surroundings for the source of that dreaded noise…but he saw nothing still and it continued on and on. If his pelt wasn't already soaked, it would've become matted with his sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut hoping to keep out the dreaded noise, but if anything it only got louder. Panic gripped his heart as he started to hyperventilate; he had always had breathing problems in humid and moist air like this. _Just relax, Tigersoul! You're acting like a kit having a nightmare._

He tried to listen to his inner voice and really focused on the noise. _It's…It's…my heart!_ Realization hit him shortly followed by shame in how silly he had acted, but he still felt relieved to finally know what the noise was.

"Now, just take a deep breath," he murmured to himself. As he tried to settle his beating heart, he looked into another puddle. His eyes spread wide when he saw that with his heart beat mellowing out, he slowly became more and more visible until he was finally visible and calmed down.

"This was such a weird vigil," Tigersoul said to himself as he hurried back to his post. Through the downpour the light of morning began to rise.

**A long chapter with even MORE ceremonies, but all well. What do you think of Tigersoul? **

**PS: Tigersoul and Dapplepaw didn't just "fall in lone at first sight" like some people like to believe happens. They're just intrigued. Probably, think the other is weird, really.**

**Tell me your opinion in a REVIEW! Next up…Seaclan!**


	5. Chapter 4:Silver

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories. And yes, Tigersoul _can_ turn invisible. That's his special little gift.**

**Chapter 4**

_"Have you found any, Silverpaw?" Floodpaw called._ The fluffy silver tom's bright yellow eyes searched the meadow for the other protégé. "Silverpaw?"

"I'm over here!" came a muffled voice. Out of one of the few bushes came a slick silver she-cat, her blue eyes light with joy. She skipped happily over to Floodpaw, dropping the leaves in her mouth that were muffling her voice. "These are the right ones, eh?" she said in her regular chime-like voice. Floodpaw bent down to sniff them.

He responded, "Yep, these are borage leaves." Silverpaw was glad to have found the right herbs for her younger cousin; this was his first time going out to get herbs on his own so it was kind of like an assessment. "What are they used for?" she quizzed as Floodpaw turned to gather his own mouthful of leaves.

He dropped the bigger leaves next to hers before answering, "Um…these dock leaves are for soothing scratches and pads and borage is for…the nurses' milk?" He looked up at her hopefully.

Her smile dropped as she remembered what Mistycloud told her, "Yes, but the most important usage for borage is that it brings down fevers."

Floodpaw sighed dejectedly and picked up the dock. "Why can't herbs have only one usage each?" he mumbled around the leaves. Silverpaw watched the fluffy tom,with eyes getting bluer, as he padded over to the slope down to the beach. She quickly picks up the borage and runs after him.

"Don't feel bad, Floodpaw, you're still young," she mewed sympathetically.

He shrugged. "No big deal," he agreed.

Deciding she didn't want to swallow any of the herbs, Silverpaw remained silent as they leapt off the end of the slope onto the beach sand. She stared down at her dainty paws trudging on the sand. _They look darker against the white sand._ Her gaze left the sand,sparkling pale gold in the warm rays,and turned to the Big Blue. Closing her now once again pale blue eyes, she breathed in the smell of salt water and,listened to the softly lapping waves and seagull cries.

When she reopened her eyes, she saw they were already almost back to camp. Her shoulders slumped unhappily, _I never get to spend any time with Floodpaw anymore_. Floodpaw was the only cat who understood her; the others thought she was either a timid coward, a ditzy mouse-brain, or an arrogant fox-heart who thought she was too good for them. Her brother, Saltpaw, thought she was a weakling and her other cousin, Mistpaw, thought that _she_ was too good for _her_. Silverpaw sighed remembering what awaited her this day.

Suddenly, the tranquil ocean scene was disrupted by a huge splash. A massive steelhead salmon leapt into the air, its scales glittering in the sunlight, but some of those scales were obstructed by red.

"WOO-HOO!" the red yowled.

Floodpaw and Silverpaw looked at each other knowingly, "Crabclaw."

The salmon flopped in and out of the water as Crabclaw tried to hang on. Even though his claws were probably getting wrenched out of his paws, he was most likely having a blast.

"HANG TE-" he tried to call, but his claws finally gave and he lost his grip. The salmon slapped him away with its tail sending the warrior skidding across the water like when the two-leg kits skip stones. He shakily got up, wading in the now bloody water. _I hope it's not his._ But her worries were dashed when the ginger tom shook himself off and his brown eyes flashed from the thrill. Silverpaw shook her head dumbfounded.

When she looked back to see what happened to the catch, it leapt up one more time just when another huge splash formed next to it. Two more shapes launched themselves at the salmon and slapped it back into the water. The bubbles dispersed and the conclusion was obvious when red water pooled above the scene of the catch.

The two protégés padded over to congratulate the warriors as they strode out of the Big Blue with the steelhead hanging from their jaws. Crabclaw pouted at his two partners and the large blue-gray tom of the duo, Bigbreak, was laughing his tail off on the ground.

The tom finally got up after catching his breath and Crabclaw was now fuming. "Wow, you neva' cease to amaze me, bro! That was one epic wipeout," he chuckled a hearty laugh, his electric blue eyes watering from all the laughter.

Crabclaw huffed, "What-ev, I tired it out for ya'."

The other warrior, a pure-white she-cat with blue eyes, flicked her ears at the chummy toms, "That enough you two. We need get fish to cave." The she-cat, Icelight, talked in a strange pitch because she didn't know what she sounded like considering she was born death. But this had allowed her to become excellent at reading lips and she was our best spy.

Silverpaw dropped the borage, "Great catch, guys."

"Thanks, lil' bra. Can't wait for ya' to be joinin' us," Bigbreak told her.

The young she-cat froze. Ever since she became a protégé, Silverpaw had dreaded the ever-nearing day when she would reach the halfway mark of her training, the start of her ocean fishing. She glanced at the Big Blue; its peaceful lapping of the shore seemed like it would be a breeze to hunt in, but everyone knew that to be very far from the truth. She shivered wanting to just skip this part of being a Seaclan cat.

Snapping out of her dreamy state, she saw that the others had already padded off towards the camp. She quickly picked up the leaves and ran after them. Crabclaw, who was at the back, rolled his eyes at her over his shoulder. Silverpaw visibly shrunk, _He's one of the ones who think I'm a ditz. So I space out a lot, kill me._ As they padded up to the waterfall hiding the camp's entrance, she could make out Shiningmist and her father, Fishtail, guarding Sunning Rocks from any interested seagulls. She silently slipped past the cave guards, Sandpelt and Hermitshell, and behind the crashing waves of water, not relaxing her muscles until she brushed her pelt up against Floodpaw's. He purred affectionately at her and licked her ear.

The two padded past their scattered clanmates, including their leader Quicksilver who watched his son proudly, until they reached the stream in the back of the cave that flowed out of the Starlight Pool and into a large crack in the wall. They then leapt over it. As they got closer to that crack, dark muttering could be heard. When the source of that muttering heard them approach, cold, dull blue-gray eyes turned on them. Part of the shadows padded out revealing that it was really a dark gray ancient.

The old tom glowered at them. "It's 'bout time! Ain't like I'm gettin' any younga," he rasped. _Lightclan forbid!_ Silverpaw rolled her eyes at their herbal cat, but her cousin bowed his head to his mentor while dropping his herbs.

"Sorry, Mistycloud, but it was kind of hard to find the borage," he mewed.

Mistycloud snorted, snapped up the herbs, and stomped back into the crack. "You, she-cat. Get ya' tailfin in her'!" Silverpaw flinched slightly at his harsh tone and quickly jogged after him. In the dim light of the herbal cats' den, Mistycloud had once again disappeared in the darkness, but she could hear him yelling and found her way to the back of the den. The den itself was just big enough for the herbal cat and its protégé while the back wall had jagged pieces sticking out here and there that served as shelves. This was where he growled at her to place the borage.

Unsure of what to do since Mistycloud just ignored her afterwards and started checking the stores, she walked slowly out of the den with her tail dragging behind her. Stepping out of the den, she saw that something had caught Floodpaw's attention on the other side of the stream. She followed his gaze and _mrrowed_ in amusement.

"Please, Mama! Just one ride," a ginger tom-kit pleaded with adoring cinnamon-colored eyes to his beautiful blue-gray mother.

"No Salmonkit, it's too dangerous for ya'," she meowed.

"No it ain't" his sister, a tiny version of their mother, retorted defiantly, "I mean, we'll be like protégés in jus' two moons." _But despite that, your voice is still so high and shrill._

"Yeah, but-" Shallow-whisker tried to say, but was interrupted by a new voice from inside the cave den behind them.

A light gray head with pale green eyes popped out of the opening, "Let them go already, Shallowwhisker! Ya' can't keep them cooped up in the nursery and Lightclan knows no one want ya' to eitha now." The kits were unfazed by the older nurse's insult and jetted off before Shallowwhisker could stop them. She sighed and curled up outside the den entrance.

Salmonkit and Dolphinkit ran off towards the entrance, their pads covered by fur as to not slip on the wet rock, and they skidded to a halt in front of a hole in the ground. A ditch in the rock caused some of the waterfall to pour down into a small hole instead of into the larger one.

"COWABUNGA!" Salmonkit yelled before disappearing into the hole, soon followed by his sister who let out an excited squeal. Now, any other clan would be terrified that the kits would never be seen again, but not Seaclan. Even now, their squeals of delight could be heard going down the cave wall as the water slide carried them through. Silverpaw had only ever ridden the slide once herself; the rush was just too much for her. It wasn't long before Salmonkit and Dolphinkit came splashing out of the tunnel's other end into the Starlight Pool. The impact sent up a splash that soaked Floodpaw and Silverpaw. Since their territory (even their camp) was wet, they were unfazed…but someone else wasn't.

"ARGH!" Mistycloud wailed fuming. She yelped, but the two kits actually skipped up _to_ the boiling herbal cat.

"Ya' lil' furballs! Ya' gone and soaked me through; even the Big Blue itself ain't this wet!" he yelled.

Salmonkit giggled, "Ya' know that ain't true, Mistycloud."

"Yeah," Dolphinkit agreed, "We'd have ta' splash ya' a lot more!" Then she jumped back into the water to send another wave onto him and her brother. Mistycloud's fur was on end despite being wet, rising to make him look at least twice as big, his eyes swirled, and steam escaped his ears, he was so upset.

"You-You-You-You," he repeated over and over, too outraged to form complete thoughts. _He's so upset, his grammar is corrected!_ The completely oblivious kits were now both rolling on the floor laughing at poor Mistycloud's expense. The herbal cat unsheathed his claws.

"Oh come on, Mistycloud," the young tom gasped through his chuckles, "Ya' know ya' wuv us." As a final touch, the two little vermin started rubbing up against the ancient, mewling cutely, with their eyes big and sparkling with innocence. I don't think Mistycloud had ever been more disgusted.

"Get off me ya' varmints," he hissed, pushing them away from him and into the stream. The two looked utterly shocked that their SCA (Super Cuteness Attack) had no affect, but they brushed it off and started splashing each other with the cold water. Mistycloud rolled his eyes and pointed out a familiar tom on the other side of the stream.

"CRABCLAW, get ya' lazy butt ova here and take ya' spawns of evil far away from me!"

The reddish tom flinched and started to herd his kits away pouting. "Come on you two, let's go visit the grand-rents!" They squealed _(my ears are aching now)_ and left their father behind to dash off to the den carved into the slope leading up to the protégé's den. Outside, Seaclan's three regular ancients were drowsily reminiscing.

"Ya' rememba when ol' Darksilva was jus' a wee protégé and he had tried to hunt that there crab?" A ginger tom,with amber eyes alit with mischief,asked.

"How could we not?!" a cream, brown, and white nurse purred, "It done pinched him so hard, he thought his warrio' name be Clippednose!" The two busted out laughing (as much as ancients can-which means it sounded more like they were having a heart attack) while the remaining one, a silver she-cat just looked longingly into the distance.

"Ooh ooh! Tell us that story please, Sunsetwater!" Salmonkit pleaded his grandfather.

"Yes! Yes!" Agreed Dolphinkit bouncing up and down with excitement. Mesmerized mewling can be heard as Featherstep's litter, Rainkit and Spraykit, left the nursery for the first time after opening their eyes. The tom-kits joined their denmates for their first ancient's story. They snapped River-rapid out of her daze and she purred at them sweetly. Shyly, the two brothers tumbled behind the bigger kits and peeked their heads out cutely. _Aww,_Silverpaw stopped eavesdropping as Sunsetwater began the story about their old leader that she'd heard just about a thousand times. _A cat can only stand to hear a story of their grandfather making a fool of himself so many times._

She bid her farewell to Floodpaw as he tried to calm his seething mentor. Shaking her head with a smirk, she padded away to the fresh-kill pool. This was where they stored live fish to keep them fresh longer for whenever they planned on eating them. _It's also good for cats to practice fishing._ Sitting at the edge, she made sure her shadow didn't fall on the water and with one swift swipe,she killed herself a meal. _Yay, tuna; my favorite!_ She eagerly gulped down the morsel, finally realizing just how hungry she was.

"Good you've eaten." Silverpaw turned to see a long-furred cream she-cat. Locking onto her green eyes, she gulped. Don't get her wrong, Silverpaw had no problem with her mentor. It was just that she knew what was coming.

Her fears were brought to life, "Time to begin learnin' how to fish in the Big Blue!" The silver protégé's stomach plummeted in despair as she followed Shellblossom to the entrance where Sandpelt (now off guard duty) awaited with Saltpaw. She managed to smile weakly at her brother, but he huffed at her and turned his head away. Silverpaw's eyes once again darkened to blue as she grudgingly followed the three on their way to the ocean.

* * *

After finally reaching the sea, the waves gently lapped at her legs. That would normally soothe her, allowing her to forget her tragic existence, but now it made her breath hitch as fear clutched at her heart.

"OK," Shellblossom began, "As ya' two know, today is the day ya' reach the halfway point of ya'r trainin' by startin' sea fishin'."

Sandpelt took the reigns, "Rememba' that the ocean may seem like a gentle giant, but when ya' actually swim in it the current can be rough and the danga' is all too real from both the wata' and its inhabitants."

"Ya' two are very strong swimmas' and we have faith in ya'," her mentor mewed encouragingly. Her brother snorted and murmured that he didn't need faith. The inner Silverpaw wanted to swat his fat head.

"If ya' find a large catch alert the rest of us. Do not, I repeat, do _not_ try to catch it ya'self." Now that the pale ginger tom was finished, the four warriors waded into the water until they were able to swim and finally dive in. Feeling the always cold salt water wash over her she began to hyperventilate, but refused to let herself breath in. Indeed, the sudden grasp of the ocean's currents were startling and she immediately went back up for air. Diving back in, she noticed the others were several fox-lengths down now while she was barely a tail-length from the surface. She forced her legs to paddle faster to catch up, her short tail spun to give her extra speed. _Thank Lightclan,Seaclan cats have webbed paws._

She caught up to them just in time to see Sandpelt signal with his ears for them to split up and she was alone, just like she always felt when she wasn't with Floodpaw. She paddled around, not really looking for anything when a flash of orange caught her eye. _Yellow-eye rockfish!_ The fish searched around rocks for food and didn't notice Silverpaw hiding behind an undersea cliff. _I'm running out of air, but…I'll show them! I'll show them ALL!_ She pushed into the crooks of the cliff face, her fur blending in with the rock, and crept closer to her prey.

With the flowing seaweed as cover, she pushed off using her tail to propel her forward with an extra speed boost and snagged her claws into bright scales. _Gotcha!_

Panicking, the rockfish began to flail making it painful for her to hold on, but she refused to let this one go. In a last attempt to save itself, the fish went limp making Silverpaw think she had won, as she pushed forward to deliver the finishing blow it snapped back into action and slammed its tail hard into her chest. What little air was left in her lungs was slapped out and,water gushed into her nose and mouth. _Oh no! I'm gonna' drown!_ Waiting for the chilling darkness to overcome her, Silverpaw had yet to release her grip. _If I'm goin' down, you're comin' with me!_

* * *

_OK, something's definitely not right here._ She was still alive. Looking around in disbelief, her own flabbergasted face met that of the rockfish's. _I'm not just alive…I'm BREATHING?!_ Just to make sure, she took in a big breath of seawater and proved that she was breathing…underwater! Smiling a creepy huge smile, the rockfish gulped, and she ended its life.

Swimming back up to the surface, taking all the time she wanted, pride warmed her insides for the first time. Her head broke the surface and she could see that the rest of her patrol was waiting for her. As she waded back onto the beach sand,shaking her fur out, their eyes grew wide at her prey.

"S-S-S-Silverpaw!" her mentor gasped, but soon let loose a massive purr into her shoulder, "Look at that yellow-eye rockfish! It's as big as you and you caught it all. By. _Yourself_!" Shellblossom was obviously overjoyed.

"Incredible, Silverpaw!" Sandpelt breathed out completely blown-away. Her brother snorted angrily and glared at the simple speckled sea trout he and both mentors had caught together. He mumbled curses as he was forced to carry the trout back as the two warriors fawned over his sister,proudly dragging her catch past the stunned cave guards, Littlemouse and Dovepool.

TThat night, Fishtail and Deepcrack sat up proudly next to their daughter, praising her. That night, every cat in the clan gained a new respect for Silverpaw and never thought of her like they did before, again. That night, Saltpaw ate alone and angry in his own little corner, ripping his trout from earlier to shreds and leaving the rest to the kits. That night, Rainkit and Spraykit had their first argument; who would be Silverpaw's apprentice. That night, she slept in her bed of dried seaweed and seagull feathers never once thinking about how she could of possibly breathed underwater.

**This one kind of has an awkward ending, but there's our Seaclan main; sad life right? But at least she finally got to shine in the end (Ha ha, Saltpaw's so bitter), but don't think the little faith both she and Seaclan had in herself was her biggest problem. Oh no, things will get worse; much…much…much…worse. *insert demonic laugh* : )**

**PS- Weren't all the kits just _too_ cute! X3 R&R!**


	6. Chapter 5:Wind

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**Chapter 5**

_Warm blossom-time sunlight shone down on a dark gray shape._ The light shone brighter through the gaps in the tall golden stalks, that were bent over a nest of grass and grain to form a cozy little den. The tom's eyes fluttered open and squinted in the morning light.

"Five more minutes…"he muttered, but got up anyway. He shook his tabby fur out without bothering to groom and slipped through the wheat. On the route, which he knew by heart, he passed several other little dens just like his own, some empty, some with cats in them. _Lucky ducks,_ he thought about the occupied ones. He stepped over his sleeping clanmates and eventually escaped the golden maze into a clearing. In this clearing were the few early risers and a lone boulder.

Padding over to the fresh-kill pile, a pale ginger and cream she-cat turned her green gaze on him. "Care to share, Stormbird?" she purred hopefully around the fur of a rabbit. Stormbird stifled a purr of his own noticing the tom next to her, watching him closely through narrowed eyes. _Goldenheart is way too overprotective of his little sister._ So instead he gave the pretty she-cat a pokerfaced nod, his heart twisting a little when he saw her visibly sink in disappointment at his stoic response.

All three cats finished their meals in a tense and awkward silence when a black tom jumped on them out of nowhere. "Mornin'!" he mewed excitedly. Goldenheart grunted, Stormbird scowled, but the she-cat eagerly leapt up to speak to her old friend.

"Good morning, Gentlestorm," she said.

"Morning, Dayfield," he greeted, "Since y'all are the first up you get the worm!" The two other toms looked at each other at the lieutenant's choice of words, but soon looked away when they realized just who they were agreeing with. Dayfield rolled her eyes, but Gentlestorm didn't notice the little exchange.

"I've got a patrol with Blackwind, Owlpaw, and Hazeltail along the Sparkclan side. Goldenheart, please lead a border patrol with Halfmoon over by Terraclan," he pointed his tail at the black-and-white tom sunning farther up the left side of the clearing, "And two other cats. Dayfield can you lead a hunting patrol with your protégé, Wrenflight, and Milkfeather?" She nodded happily. _So cute…_ "Good then Stormbird, you and Horsefoot can train your apprentices today." He flicked his tail in acknowledgement.

Goldenheart went to wake up Halfmoon before disappearing into the wheat. Dayfield bounded over to a amber-eyed brown tom with white paws and tail-tip, and a green-eyed cream and gray she-cat who were sharing tongues. After a quick discussion, the three warriors headed to the southern wheat of the clearing to leave for their hunting. Stormbird allowed himself to watch Dayfield leave with a longing look in his eyes before snapping back into his cool guy cover.

Good timing too because just as he shook himself back, Goldenheart stepped out of the stalks where he'd exited earlier with Grasstail, a golden brown she-cat, and Sheepclaw, a fluffy pale she-cat. They joined Halfmoon who was waiting for them at the entrance and sped off to do the morning patrol. Sighing, he headed off in the direction of the warriors' dens and walked through them until he found a particular brown and black shape.

He prodded the dozing cat, "Yo, Horsefoot. Get up, it's training time."

"But I'm a warrior now, Halfmoon," he mumbled. Stormbird rolled his eyes frustratingly and grabbed the tom by the scruff to shake him awake.

"OK OK! Lightclan, I'm up already," he yowled angrily. The dark gray tabby dropped him, nodded once, and padded away to the protégés' dens on the other side of camp. He walked up to a young black tom grooming himself.

"Good morning, Stormbird," he meowed after one final lick.

The older tom nodded before cutting to the chase, "Where's your brother?"

The black cat cocked his head, "Windpaw? I thought he already left with you." Stormbird groaned. "He did it again, didn't he?"

"He sure as fox-dung did," the warrior growled angrily and turned to leave the young tom. When he reentered the clearing, now bustling with cats, rustling from behind alerted him that the protégé had followed him.

"You want me to go find him?" he offered.

He nodded as the younger tom sped off. _Why can't Windpaw be like Gorsepaw? Geez._

* * *

Once Gorsepaw left the intimidating warrior behind, he let out a sigh of relief. _I don't know how Windpaw can even think of angering such a cat._ Absorbed in his thoughts, he stumbled into another cat and both of them fell to the ground.

"OW! Watch it," a familiar voice yelled.

Gorsepaw swallowed an apology as recognition washed over him, "Frostpaw! Good morning." He gave his white sister an affectionate lick. She shook her head disgustedly and glared at him with hard eyes like amethyst.

"Don't give me that perfect gentle-cat crap, Gorsepaw. What do you want," she hissed. Gorsepaw flinched at his sister harsh tongue. _She's going to make one dung of an herbal cat,_ he thought.

"I don't want anything, but to bid my dearest sister a good morning. Now if you're going to be so rude, I'll be off with my business." Frostpaw's curiosity and need to be in control got the better of her.

"What business could you have all on your own?"

Her black brother's whiskers quivered in pleasure, "I'm off to find that mouse-brain, again."

She instantly understood and left her brother on his search for their *clears throat* _dear_ brother.

* * *

Lush grass blew in the breezy wind, performing its graceful dance for its admirers without a care in the world. Much like the cat standing, chest out, on the tallest hill, letting the wind crawl through his long dark gray fur. It felt wonderful; if he could, he'd stay up there forever. The power and awe smashing together in an overpowering sensation, making him wish for the feeling to never go. _If only, if only._

Remembering why he came there, the protégé sprinted down the hill, the thrill giving his legs that extra boost. Suddenly, an image of a dark gray tabby entered his mind making his eyes narrow with determination. _I'll show them. Stormbird is going to praise me even if it kills the spiteful furball._ He slowed as a familiar mouthwatering scent flowed through his senses. He came to a complete halt and leaned his head back to fully breathe in the scent through his mouth. _Rabbit!_

Windpaw dropped into a hunter's crouch and started to move forward on silent paws. Rounding a hill, he made out the floppy-eared creature drinking from one of the many pools dotting the hills. Stalking ever closer with the wind blowing towards him, his fur flapping in the wind, the hare didn't notice him until he was a mere fox-length away. Like it had a sixth sense, its big ears pricked up and it wiggled its cute, little nose in confusion. Windpaw took the chance and pounced on the creature. It gave a startled squeak and tried to wiggle free, but his claws were tucked into its skin so he pulled it towards him and gave it the killing bite to the neck. The creature went limp. He stared down angrily at the catch. It was really a scrawny and pathetic creature that looked like it would've died without the hunter's help. Growling, Windpaw silently cursed those dung Pinktrees.

"Nice catch."

Windpaw turned to see a familiar cat padding up to him.

"Oh hey, Bro," he meowed dropping his catch, "What are you doing here?"

Gorsepaw pouted trying to look mad, "You left camp without telling anyone, again. Stormbird sent me to get you for training." The dark gray tom slumped his shoulders. _Not again. That old badger-heart is gonna' chew me out for trying to feed the clan. Hmph! Can't they see how noble my actions are; leaving at the break of dawn to catch the food they eat!_

"Windpaw…Are you listening to me?!" his brother's yell snapped him out of his thoughts.

"No," he answered bluntly.

The black brother gave a massive sigh, "This is why you'll never become a warrior. Stormbird tells Horsefoot all the time that you space out like that and don't listen to a word he-" He stopped short, finally noticing that his brother had left.

_Stupid Gorsepaw. What gives him the right to scold me,his big brother…well, I'll show him too!_ He sped off, flying over hills with his paws barely touching the ground. Everyone knew he was fast yet they still dared to scold him. _I 'm better than the other protégés by a long shot!_

Energy flowed through his muscles and he felt his namesake whipping past him faster as his speed increased._ I'm the fastest cat in Hurricaneclan!_ He bowed his head forward to make himself more aerodynamic._ No one can even come close to me when it comes to speed._ His paws skimmed across the grass, staying only long enough for his claws to dig into soft earth and propel him further. _I'll show them_ (this might as well be his catch phrase)_that I can't be stopped! I'm…_His tail straightened out. _I'm…_He flattened his ears against his head. _I'm…_He spread his long, wiry legs forward with every bound. _I-I'm…_His dark purple eyes narrowed, focusing on every aspect of his run. _I'm-HOLY LIGHTCLAN!_

The world was whirling pass him at impossible speeds and glancing down, his paws didn't even touch the ground for a whole second. He was running so fast that with his passing, dust whirled up, clumps of grass were kicked out of the ground, water sprayed out of the pools in the opposite direction, and unsuspecting insects were ripped to shreds by the wind caused by his run. He laughed in his head, _Oh ho ho ho ho! I'm even faster than I thought!_

Windpaw finally halted his super-speeding as he neared the edge of their territory, a small cluster of trees that signified their border's intersection with Sparkclan and Terraclan. _I'm not even panting; that was easy!_ He turned around and sped back to the hills with an idea forming in his head. He was back in just over a minute. _I bet I can shorten the time with practice._ Speeding off again, he enacted his plan as the scent hit his open jaw. Almost instantaneously, the rabbit appeared right before he slammed into it. The force of the impact was enough to break its neck, and he repeated this over and over until he'd caught three fairly normal looking rabbits which were considered fat and juicy in these times.

Staring over his catch, he beamed at his work. _Way to go, super power! I'm so fast I could catch every piece of prey in our territory before the day is over!_ He actually considered the ridiculous plan. _Neah, then they'd get suspicious and I'd have to reveal my super power. They might label me as a freak and my reputation as a she-cat magnet would be ruined!_

He had no such reputation.

_This will have to do, I mean, it is pretty impressive and besides. With this new gift of mine, I could finish all my duties, then spend the rest of my time for whatever I want_ and_ get stupid Stormbird to be so proud of me, he'd flaunt me off to mentors everywhere!_

Smiling hugely at the fantasy, he tried to pick up all three rabbits. Of course, he fell head-over-tail and landed on his rear. "Well, that won't work," he told himself. Then, you could practically see the light bulb appear over his head. Once again making use of his new found secret weapon, he took one rabbit and ran back to the entrance of the wheat field, dropped it, and did the same with the other two. He accomplished this in exactly 51 seconds.

He stared up into the blue sky and saw it was barely sun-high. Right on time, the annual patrol exited the field and jumped back in surprise at him. All except the cat in the lead of course, Stormbird. _He_ nearly pinned him to the ground with brown daggers for eyes.

"Great Lightclan, Windpaw! Did _you_ catch all those rabbits," a young brown tabby warrior exclaimed in sheer disbelief.

Windpaw straightened up proudly, "Of course I did, Haredash. _And_ I caught the one Gorsepaw probably brought back earlier, too." He added the last part just in case Gorsepaw took credit for his catch, but knowing his brother, he'd never do a thing like that.

"Yeah, he told us that," a long-furred black tom said coolly. He stiffened as he recognized his father and mother, Quietwhisper, who silently nodded in approval at him from behind Gustpelt. All three members of Stormbird's patrol came over to Windpaw to give him praise, but Stormbird regained their attention by loudly clearing his throat. His protégé happily anticipated finally being praised by the moody warrior.

"Where were you?" he asked calmly, but everyone could hear the edge of something else in his tone.

Windpaw was confused by his question, "Well duh, hunt-"

Before he could finish, Stormbird loudly cut in, "Well, you should've been in camp waiting for my orders! Honestly, how can you be so incompetent?! You don't listen to a word I say, DO YOU! All you care about is yourself, I bet the thought of how embarrassing it must be for _me_ to have a useless and irresponsible scrap of fur like you as my protégé never crosses your feeble mind! It didn't, did it?! Well…ANSWER ME!"

Throughout the whole time he was ranting at him, Stormbird stepped closer and closer until he was now nose to nose with the trembling protégé.

Gustpelt immediately turned on the junior warrior after the shock of his cold words left him, "Stormbird! How dare you talk to my son that way, or any cat for that matter. You have no right to reprimand him for just trying to help."

The mentor turned on his protégé's father hissing like a snake, "Shut up, Gustpelt! This doesn't concern you, you old windbag!"

Furious, the senior warrior dropped into a fighting stance and quickly, Stormbird followed suit. They started to circle each other like mortal enemies out for the kill, waiting for the other to strike. All of a sudden, they sprung at each other while the three bystanders could only watch stunned into statues. Then, there was a blur of gray and white causing his father and mentor to dig their claws into the ground trying to stop, only causing them to tumble all around the meadow.

They stared in shock at the gray and white,that was indeed a cat,who just happened to be staring them all down,hissing. "What. Is. The meaning. Of this?" she demanded much too quietly to express her true anger. It sent shivers down Windpaw's spine.

"B-Breezegem we," Gustpelt stammered at their leader.

"Spit it out!" she hissed causing the party and the deputy, Gentlestorm, to flinch.

The cause of all this ruckus dared to speak up, "S-Stormb-bird," _Mouse-dung, I'm stuttering,_ "Stormbird a-and Gustpelt were fighting because of…me." The last word barely came out as more than a whisper, but Breezegem heard it none the less.

"Elaborate," she demanded. Windpaw was nervous about getting punished to go on. Luckily, Haredash stepped in.

"Stormbird completely berated Windpaw for no reason other than serving his clan," the young warrior stated. The cats stared at him in surprise, after all, he was speaking up when he was just a protégé a few moons ago. The hothead was the first one to snap out of it.

"That is not true!" he insisted at the nervous tom who flinched, "Windpaw broke the rules by leaving camp without telling anyone, _again_," he emphasized the word to remind them that this wasn't his first offense in that area, "Then he has the _nerve_ to show off and talk to me in a disrespectful manner! I only gave him what he rightfully earned."

The said "show-off" glared furiously at his mentor and the way he twisted the facts in his favor and he wasn't alone.

"Not true," Quietwhisper spoke up softly, but was too unnerved by everybody looking at her to go on. Gustpelt walked over to comfort his mate and finished for her, "Look at the rabbits he caught. Sure,he should've asked permission before going to hunt alone, but we all know how he is. He just wanted to do a good thing and Stormbird is blowing this way out of proportion!"

The rest of their patrol and Gentlestorm nodded in agreement while Stormbird glowered at them all, but before he could retort Breezegem flicked her tail for silence. "Follow me."

They had no choice but to obey, so they followed the gray-and-white she-cat back through the wheat field and into the clearing. Leaping onto the lone boulder she yowled the same old summoning call, "All cats old enough to chase down a hare gather here around Sky Rock for a clan meeting." Soon, cats spilled into the clearing from unknown locations and found seats. Rustling in the front, forewarned the arrival of a matted ginger tom and Frostpaw.

Movement to the left alerted them of an ancient looking ginger she-cat and a black tom with a deformed front leg,who didn't look any older than Windpaw's father. The meeting was about to start when suddenly, two kits, a tortoiseshell-and-white she-kit, and her black-and-brown brother,burst into the clearing making quite a racket. They were followed by their mother, Woodfrost, and the other two nurses, Cinderfall and stayed at the edge of the clearing and Breezegem finally began.

"Cats of Hurricaneclan, it has come to my attention that I have made a grave mistake," Cats began to murmur confusedly and nervously at her proclamation, "Today a protégé left camp without telling anyone where he was going. Normally, the protégé would be punished, but it seems he did not commit this crime out of smite or sloth but to provide for the clan. He took it upon himself to wake up far before any of us to provide much needed food. For as you know, the Pinktrees' poisoning has scared our prey deep into their holes, killed them, and even forced them into the other clans' territory." She paused to let them soak in all this information.

"My mistake was made long before any of this even happened when I appointed a certain cat to be this protégé's mentor. Therefore, I have decided to relieve Stormbird of Windpaw." Shocked gasps came from the crowd and Stormbird gave a yowl of protest. She silenced him with a cold stare and he sat back down still fuming. Windpaw, on the other hand was ecstatic for he couldn't imagine any cat being a worse mentor than Stormbird.

Their leader's blue-gray gaze softened as she concluded the meeting, "Without further ado, I Breezegem call upon warriors passed to shine favor upon my new choice, Grasstail shall be Windpaw's new mentor." Windpaw was utterly beaming; Grasstail was a fine warrior but had a joking heart and a very playful persona. _She's perfect!_ Most seemed to agree with Windpaw's thought while others thought Stormbird was just fine. They thought Windpaw needed someone to put him in line.

His _ex_-mentor snorted defiantly and stalked into the warriors' dens as a nervous looking Dayfield followed him. Goldenheart glared at the whole thing and Windpaw didn't blame him. _I wouldn't want my sister padding after a cat like Stormbird, either. Thank Lightclan, she's the herbal cat apprentice so I don't even have to worry about that._

Breezegem jumped down from Sky Rock after Windpaw having his head licked by his new mentor. The golden brown she-cat cuffed him over the ear playfully.

"Congratulations, Windpaw!" Gorsepaw told his brother. Frostpaw just flicked her ears.

"Oh, Windpaw!" Speaking of love struck she-cats, "I heard that mean fox-heart chewed you out, licked you back up, chewed you some more, and then spit you into Terraclan!" _Well,if that's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard-must be..._He turned to look at the distraught speaker, a small light brown tabby. "Are you OK?" Concern glimmered in her amber orbs.

He nodded, "Of course! You know I can easily handle him, Heatherpaw."

She purred knowingly at him while his littermates looked at each other not believing his overconfidence.A gagging sound from behind the adoring protégé was what grabbed their attention. "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!"

A light brown-and-cream she-cat pushed her way into the group, "Heatherpaw, you can't seriously be into this loser?"

Heatherpaw glared at her with her ears down in embarrassment, "And why not?!"

The other she-cat scoffed, "Because he's an arrogant, conceited, poser who does nothing, but cause trouble. I'm sure anything Stormbird said to him was rightfully earned." _Oh great Lightclan, she sounds just like that dragon-eater!_

"And what do you know, _Owlpaw_?!" Windpaw hissed, spitting out her name venomously. Windpaw really hated Owlpaw; she's almost as bad as Stormbird. She always put him down and embarrassed him in front of Heatherpaw. _Honestly, I don't how they can be kin nonetheless_ sisters! The two glared each other down, waiting for the other to break first, but he cursed his luck when Grasstail called him away for training. He could hear Owlpaw prancing with joy at his forfeit and he swore to get her back for this.

* * *

Windpaw padded into his den and plopped down on his nest completely exhausted. He spent the rest of the day doing his first training session with Grasstail. She had taught him new fighting techniques like the Quick Jabs that he'd demanded Stormbird teach him, but he always just yelled at him to shut up, and that the reason he wasn't "ready" for those moves was because he never listened. Then, he sent him to tend to the elders like usual.

Windpaw knew he'd like Grasstail _way_ better than Stormbird, but this was just pawesome! Grasstail told him his mistakes with playful mocking and then showed him how to make it better. She never just explained things with long, boring speeches, but believed that they learn best by doing, which he totally agreed with. He happily put all his effort into training with her and she could tell it paid off.

Closing his eyes, he gladly looked forward to his first full day as Grasstail's protégé.

**OK, this time I got his power out of the way quickly so we could get into character development. Stormbird really has something stuck up his butt,neh? I don't see how Dayfield can like him at all, but she does because that's what I decided for her.**

**Anyway, we'll be back at Sparkclan with Dapplepaw next time and it'll be the Gathering! *hint hint* All the mains will meet! *squeal!* X3**

**PS-Can you really have a good teen drama without SOMEONE getting pregnant? Seriously, I want to know. R&R!**


	7. Chapter 6:Dapple

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**Chapter 6**

_Dapplepaw jogged comfortably behind Bramblestep_ enjoying the feel of the undergrowth,lathered with morning dew, whipping against her. The days were wonderfully warmer as the clans were well into blossom-time. She couldn't help but smile at how perfect things had been lately. I mean, sure there was that battle with Terraclan, but they won that and Terraclan hadn't done anything since, not even border skirmishes!

Though, she'd been worrying about her new found gift and struggling to shut up Patchpaw, the real hero was the last one anyone expected. After Poppytail started kitting from the stress of having camp attacked, Willowsong had no choice but to go to her aid. That left some seriously wounded warriors to deal with themselves especially her poor mother. That's when the hero stepped in, Leafpaw. That's right;the protégé had spent so much time in the infirmary because of her own injury that she at least knew how to deal with those wounds. Thanks to her handling the injured, Willowsong was able to help Poppytail deliver two healthy kits; Morningkit, a golden tom-kit with a lighter fluffy chest, and paws, and Peachkit, a very pale ginger she-kit with a long tail trailing behind her. Their eye colors would be revealed later on, but for now they were still blue.

The whole clan was real impressed when she knew to use cobwebs to soak up the blood and then wet moss balls to clean the wounds. She even knew to use a poultice mixture of marigold and goldenrod on the cuts before wrapping them in more cobwebs. With Snowpelt,Fogfur,Spicesplash,and Birchpaw having some major wounds and the rest of us (except Dapplepaw's littermates and the others that hid in the nursery) had at least some scratches, Patchpaw and Cloudpaw had to make quite a few trips to get more herbs and cobwebs.

Leafpaw finally had her moment to shine and prove that she wasn't just another mouth to feed. She didn't want to be a medicine cat of course, but her skills could come in handy again one day. Looking over her left shoulder, Dapplepaw could imagine her new friend splashing around in the river that flowed into clan territory marking their border with Hurricaneclan before flowing downstream through Terraclan's marshes and down into the Big Blue. Willowsong says that after this last swimming session with Wolffang, Leafpaw should be able to go back to her warrior training. She snorted, _And cats complained about having a Seaclan warrior join our ranks. Now thanks to my grandfather, there will be less chores for me!_ A smile spread across her face at that thought.

Then her attention was stolen by the thinning woodland around her, that meant they were almost to the training clearing. She glanced at her brother to her right to see a bounce added to his jog as he too anticipated their first battle training session. Dapplepaw couldn't help but chuckle at her brother's innocence. _This will be a piece of mouse; they should've seen me in that battle. I whooped Ratstreak's butt!_ Their party stopped as a grassy clearing cut into the trees; Turtlewhisker, Cherrytip, and Creampetal also brought their protégés for training. Though, Sparrowpaw seemed a bit upset that he had been put with the "newbies".

"OK," Creampetal said padding a bit farther, "Today you three protégés will begin your battle training. As we all know, tensions are high with Terraclan and we need _all_ our warriors to be ready." Patchpaw and Sparrowpaw puffed out their chests at being called warriors and for once, the pale sisters looked at each other and knew they were thinking the same thing. _Toms._

The senior mentor flicked her tail at the other cream cat, "Cherrytip and I shall demonstrate what techniques you'll be learning today." Quickly, the two warriors took up fighting stances and began circling with the protégés leaning in with curiosity.

"First," she continued, "one that all clans use, the V-8." The littermates looked at each other confuzzled(Yes,confuzzled) by the foreign term. Their attention returned to the demonstration when Creampetal suddenly ran at Cherrytip and smacked down hard on his head with a paw. His front legs buckled under him and he fell to the ground a bit winded.

"See, this move works best on cats that are around your own size for then it will stun them and you can continue with a swipe from your paw, a nip, or try the safer approach, and jump back to brace yourself for the counterattack. If the enemy is larger, then this will only make them wince slightly and possibly bite their tongue." She turned as Cherrytip got up preparing for the next move. "This next one is only used by Sparkclan because of our strong legs and jumping capabilities. We call it the Backslash."

Cherrytip attacked this time and ran at the older she-cat. A half a cat-length before he reached her, he jumped and landed right behind her twisting in the air to face her. Acting fast, he pounced on her, and batted at her back and shoulders with sheathed claws. Creampetal was forced down by his weight, but managed to crawl out from under him. "This will take some time to learn," he responded, "It requires good jumping, in-air action, fast footwork, and precision so don't get upset if you don't nail it on your first try…or second…or third!" He glanced quickly at Creampetal who nodded at him with approval.

Bramblestep said, "Lastly, how 'bout the Possum fake out?" Creampetal again nodded so he continued, "This isn't an attack, but a very necessary procedure." Again, the two cream cats faced off and Cherrytip attacked. She let him latch onto her scruff and he shook her a bit for an added measure. Suddenly, she gasped and went limp in his jaws. Patchpaw too gasped and put his paws up to his gaping mouth actually believing his mentor had killed a clanmate. Dapplepaw shook her head, _Mouse-brain._ The "murderer" dropped the limp mass of fur and stepped back as it came "back to life" scaring the dirt out of her brother.

"M-M-Magic…" he muttered. This got him a cuffing from his big sister.

"Did you completely forget what we're doing numbskull?!"

He stared at her while rubbing his empty head for a minute. It actually took a good, long moment for him to figure out what she meant. "Oh," he breathed burning with embarrassment under his fur. The others all chuckled.

"Now, it's your turn," Bramblestep spoke up, "Cloudpaw,pair up with Patchpaw,and Sparrowpaw,pair up with Dapplepaw. I've heard you've got a knack for fighting so you better live up to your reputation." She knew he was talking about how she matched up to Ratstreak and she smirked knowing that her victory was practically guaranteed. _I probably don't even need this basic training._

The partners squared up with each other and circled like the cream mentors demonstrated. After a few minutes of sizing each other up, both Sparrowpaw and Dapplepaw charged at the same time. Obviously, this only lead to a painful head butting. They both fell back on their butts groaning.

She could hear their mentors snickering at them. "Look, they're already moving on to 'advanced' techniques." She recognized the voice of Creampetal and growled through the dizziness in her head. Sparrowpaw got back to his paws first and shook the fog from his head which only got her more peeved. _What happened to my skills?! Where're those years of experience flowing through me?_ She pondered this some more as she slowly got to her paws. _Maybe it's like, for emergencies only. Lame._

She crouched ready to attack again, but smirked deviously when she saw Sparrowpaw and their audience were distracted by the other pair of protégés. She glanced at them swiftly to see Cloudpaw flailing her tiny paws pathetically at her big little brother's head. (Patchpaw's the baby while Cloudpaw is the oldest,leaving Dapplepaw with middle-kit syndrome.) After a good laugh, Patchpaw tried the V-8 himself on Cloudpaw, but his attack completely smashed her into the grass. She groaned while everyone cracked up. This was when Dapplepaw attacked.

Sparrowpaw never saw it coming and by the time their mentors' gazes fell back on them, Dapplepaw had the older protégé's head pinned down.

"Hey! I wasn't ready," he muttered through a mouthful of grass.

"A warrior should always have his guard up," she chanted glowing with pride. He growled while Creampetal murmured agreement with the other protégé's statement.

Dapplepaw let him go and he shook blades of grass out of his dark fur before locking a glare on her which she easily returned. Then, the circling restarted, but this time they were each waiting for the other to strike first. Luckily for Dapplepaw, Sparrowpaw was even more impatient than her (which is no easy feat) and finally launched at her. He stopped shortly before her and she knew the Backslash was coming. Unsure of what to do, she just followed that electric feeling,that returned for the first time since the battle three days ago,and jumped. She noticed Sparrowpaw's eyes bug out as she soared over him and landed behind him. She couldn't manage the mid-air turn,and had to use her opponents relapse moment to turn and strike. She was on his back before he could recover from the shock.

Futilely, he tried to shake her off, but Dapplepaw urged her muscles to cling on since she couldn't use claws. In return, Sparrowpaw squashed her. At first, she tried to fight back and crawl out like Creampetal did, but the effort only succeeded in her wasting what little air she had left in her lungs with a face full of black fur. So she tried out the Possum thing and went limp.

He got off, but quickly pinned her down afterwards. "I know what you're doing, remember? I've had much more training than you," he whispered into her ear. Not letting her anger at the cocky tom show, she continued to lay limp and even managed to make her breathing shallow enough that it nearly couldn't be seen. _This trick always worked well to freak the queens out. _This caused him to panic and mutter something about her suffocation. _Stuff-o-cation? What in the name of the warrior code is that? Some lesson on property or something._ Then, he muttered about Eaglepaw killing him and her curiosity got the better of her.

"What do you mean?"

Sparrowpaw jumped at her "revival" and let out a kit-like squeak of surprise. Dapplepaw fell on the ground absolutely purring at his response,completely forgetting her question,and she could hear the mentors laughing as well. The young tom's fur fluffed up in embarrassment and it looked like he was about to retort when they all heard a loud thump. Turning, they saw Patchpaw splayed out on the ground with Cloudpaw nowhere to be seen.

"Get off me, Fatty," Cloudpaw muttered with a muffled voice. That's when they realized that Cloudpaw was actually _under_ her brother…and they burst out laughing even harder.

Patchpaw gasped. "Not you too!" he wailed. His head turned to his other sister with an adorable looking angry pout on his face that only made her laugh harder.

"I-I guess…you need to…work on your…jumping, Patchpaw!" Cherrytip sputtered through his laughing. He flipped over on his stomach and started pounding the clearing floor with a paw he was laughing so hard. Now both tom protégés were fluffed up in embarrassment while Cloudpaw was frantically trying to groom the dirt and grass out of her fluffy fur.

_Best training session EVER!_

* * *

Our favorite gray-and-white protégé strolled into camp still trying to catch her breath from the combination of running and purring.

"You can stop now!" Sparrowpaw growled out frustrated.

"Can't…you see…I'm trying?!" she choked out through more giggles. She took in a big breath, "OK, I'm good."

"Good!" he yelled before stomping into the protégé den, a larger bramble thicket that grew into another hole in the Mother Tree and bent outward since it couldn't break through the wood. Then it curved down to kiss the ground. In front there was an opening for protégés to get into the cleared out part on the inside. The brambles were thickly intertwined to keep it warm and dry. Their den was between the nursery and infirmary which was a massive hole through the tree that created a tunnel to a small pond and clearing in the back. Lichen hung over the entrance,and a good one and a half fox-lengths of the surrounding tree was hollow to create the den. Willowsong and patients slept on the left side while the herb stores and a couple more nests were on the right side.

The littermates padded up to the reassembled fresh-kill pile (though it's nowhere near as full as it once was) off to the right of the Father stump and took their own share of food. _I didn't realize how hungry I was I was having so much fun…Huh, training? Fun? What's wrong with me?!_ Dapplepaw slumped down next to Eaglepaw who was eating a sparrow in front of their den and ravished her fat shrew.

"Hungry?" Eaglepaw asked sarcastically.

She only nodded one curt nod because she was too into her eating. He rolled his eyes and turned to her brother and sister after taking another bite of the bird.

"Do you guys know what's wrong with Sparrowpaw? He never naps without eating."

"He's upset about getting made out as a fool by Dapplepaw," answered Cloudpaw after taking another delicate nibble of a mouse. She scowled disgusted at her sister's eating.

"Yeah, it was so funny! You should of seen me squash Cloudpaw though; that was the BEST part," Patchpaw mewed after finishing his own fat shrew in three starved gulps. The gray she-cat huffed and started into a long speech about strategic maneuvering and timing, but Dapplepaw shut her up by mumbling "Prickpaw". She huffed again, followed Sparrowpaw's lead, and stomped into the den.

Eaglepaw purred at Dapplepaw, "You all never cease to amuse me."

Dapplepaw snorted and curled up to soak up the last rays of the setting sun after finishing her meal while her brother sneakily ate up the remains of Cloudpaw's mouse before padding away to dispose of the bones. The remaining protégé chortled to himself while shaking his head lightly before following the gray-and-white tom with his and Dapplepaw's remains.

* * *

Alas, her nap was cut short as she growled at the nose nudging her to get up. She swiped a paw at his head, "Can't you see I'm busy, Bramblestep?!"

He simply smiled at her and pointed to the cats gathered for a clan meeting. Dapplepaw looked to see that night had fallen and the sky was dark except for the little twinkling lights of her ancestors. _Wait a second…_

"It's the new moon!" she gasped while springing to her paws.

Bramblestep nodded, "You know what that means, right?" But before she could respond, Burninggold gave a yowl for silence.

"My clan, as you can see no moon shines tonight which means it is once again time for the Assembly!" Excited mews proceeded his announcement and everyone quieted down faster than they normally would to find out who was going. "Naturally, I, Scarcoat, and Willowsong will be going," he continued, "The remaining members of the party are as follows: Foxfire, Buttercupblossom, Duskshade, Mousecloud, Whitefoot, Skunkblaze, Hawkwing, Creampetal, Bramblestep,Darkstripes, Cherrytip, Needlepelt, Wolffang, and Oakleaf along with the protégés Birchpaw, Patchpaw, and Dapplepaw."

Dapplepaw knew her parents wouldn't be going since her mother was still in the infirmary and her father didn't want to leave her in her time of need, Dawnheart didn't want to leave Poppytail with their newborn kits, and Leafpaw was probably asked to stay behind since she knew a bit about healing in case anyone needed treating while the were gone, but she was shocked to hear her own name and her brother's called. _Wow, my first moon as a protégé and I've already had my first battle and now my first Assembly, too! Happy day, happy day._ Her smile broadened when she heard Sparrowpaw muttering curses from inside the den.

Her and Bramblestep joined the assembled party of cats while the warriors staying behind:Brackenclaw, Dawnheart, Fogfur, Snowpelt, Turtlewhisker, Spicesplash, Eaglepaw, Leafpaw, and Cloudpaw, bid their farewells.

"You have to tell us what happens when you get back," Eaglepaw told her with Leafpaw nodding in agreement and her sister just huffing.

With that, they set off on their journey. Burninggold was in front with his mate and lieutenant on either side of him. Willowsong followed shortly with Duskshade and Foxfire on her tail, then Skunkblaze and Whitefoot, and Hawkwing and Creampetal trailed them. The elders followed with Oakleaf limping on his bad front paw in the middle so the other two could guide the blind cat, Cherrytip was right behind them to make sure none of them fell behind, and lastly, Bramblestep and Birchpaw guided Patchpaw and Dapplepaw. Darkstripes taking up the rear.

Patchpaw bombarded Bramblestep with questions while somehow managing not to trip on anything in the darkness. His sister just focused on making sure her path was clear. _I wonder who I'll see there. I know some Terraclan cats from the battle and border skirmish, but the remaining two clans are a complete mystery to me except for their smells. What are the other leaders like? Do the other clans look and/or act like us?_ It never crossed her mind to listen on her brother and mentor's conversation that would've answer some of her questions. Instead, she just trudged on silently.

* * *

Eventually, the group of cats slowed as they came across a looming mass of rock. The newcomers gulped at the sharp points lining the top of the small, lone mountain. As the grass disappeared and cold stone met her paws, Dapplepaw looked down to see generations of cats' paw prints were imprinted into the rock. Her eyes wandered the dark landscape as they entered a hole in the mountain that put them in a tunnel. It became darker than she could ever imagine without even the starlight to light their path,and she found herself relying fiercely on her sense of hearing and smell. _Is this how blind cats feel?_ She shuddered, _Poor Oakfoot, but he's probably used to it by now. How old is he again?_

Dapplepaw's nose alerted her to strange smells that she had scented earlier, but now they were nearly overpowering. One aroma smelled of the fast, clean, warm wind that blew into their territory from the hills along with something unfamiliar to her. _Grain?_ She guessed thinking of the stories she's heard about the tall golden grass that made Hurricaneclan's camp. The second aroma smelled of salt water, sand, and an almost _slimy_ scent that must be fish. _So that must mean Hurricaneclan and Seaclan are here already._

Suddenly,as they turned a sharp curve in the tunnel, she could hear the soft murmuring of cats and then there was light. Well, nothing like the sun, but a bit more brighter than it would had been if there was a full moon. Her eyes darted trying to take everything in; they had arrived in a huge hollow in the mountain filled with foreign cats. The beat of her heart skipped as she noticed that the light was actually coming from the _walls_; twinkling lights illuminated the hollow and when she stepped up for a closer look, she saw the light was actually created by tiny multicolored stones embedded in the rock. She shook her head in disbelief and wonder, and instead checked out the new clans. _Cloudpaw's going to be so ticked she missed this!_

The cats on the far left side of the clearing were the ones that smell like wind_._ They were smaller cats that looked skinny and weak, but as she examined further she saw tight, compact muscles and thick fur that made up for their skinniness. _The cats on the far right must be Seaclan, then._ Those cats were average sized and had weird double layered pelts and short tails. They also reeked of salt water and fish so she wasn't too eager to meet them. Most cats had split from their clans to mingle with those from other clans and her clanmates slowly deserted felt abandoned and alone.

"I can show you to the other protégés!"

She turned to see Birchpaw was beside her and nodded to tell her OK. The gray tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat guided her to a small group of cats, some her size and some who looked like they could be warriors.

"Birchpaw!" a light brown and cream she-cat exclaimed before nuzzling her friend, "Good to see you, buddy!"

Birchpaw seemed ecstatic to see this skinny cat because she was beaming, "Yep, it's been much too long! How's the prey running?"

"Fine," the foreign she-cat answered bluntly,if a bit too quickly.

Dapplepaw felt left out and forgotten again as the two began to catch up when all of a sudden, a dark gray protégé butted in between the friends.

"Wow, I'm honestly shocked. Owlpaw has _friends_! This must be the end of the world."

The cat, who she now knew was named Owlpaw, hissed at the tom, "Get out of here, Windpaw!"

"Make me!" he barked back.

"Well, aren't you an arrogant piece of fox-dung," Dapplepaw muttered in a bored tone.

He turned on her scowling, "Who the dung are you!"

Dapplepaw stood up and sauntered over to put her face in his, "The name's Dapplepaw, got it memorized? Now tell me who you are since you think you can act all high and mighty,and can dis Owlpaw in front of her friends."

He stepped back to regain his personal space bubble, "I'm Windpaw of Hurricaneclan."

"Doesn't sound like it's worth remembering to me so why don't you scurry on off."

He growled at her before stomping off to join a red tom, a big blue-gray tom, a tall brown tabby, and Cherrytip. She huffed in achievement and turned back to the two she-cats staring stunned at her. "What?" she demanded a bit too roughly.

"Radical," Birchpaw breathed with the usual twinkle in her warm brown eyes.

"Indeed," Owlpaw agreed before walking up to me, "Thanks for that, but I can handle that stupid furball. I'm Owlpaw by the way, also of Hurricaneclan."

"I don't feel like repeating my name so I hope you caught it, Owlpaw," was Dapplepaw's response.

Owlpaw nodded, "Yeah. I'm sure you and I will get along _just_ fine." She stressed the "just" and smiled at Dapplepaw.

"Let's go meet some others," Birchpaw suddenly chirped in as she skipped (yeah, that's righ-_skipped_)closer to the rest of the group. Man, she couldn't ever sit still, could she?

"Dapplepaw, this is Heatherpaw of Hurricaneclan. She's Owlpaw's sister, and this is Saltpaw and Mistpaw of Seaclan. Mistpaw's brother, Floodpaw, is their herbal cat protégé," Birchpaw introduced her to a light brown tabby, a dark brown tom with gray flecks, and a she-cat who reminded her of her own sister, but paler and bigger. They mumbled greetings to her before all the protégé's started telling tales and sharing gossip.

During the time, Dapplepaw realized the only new cat she liked was Owlpaw. The Seaclan cats seemed really full of themselves and snobby causing her to have had several urges to claw their sorry tails while Heatherpaw was really just annoyingly ditzy; not funny ditzy like her brother. _Speaking of that goofball… _Suddenly, she realized that Patchpaw had been missing from her right side where he normally was this whole time.

"Birchpaw, have you seen Patchpaw anywhere?" she questioned.

Birchpaw shook her head no, "Haven't seen him since we got here."

"Who's Patchpaw?" Saltpaw butted in rudely.

"My brother," Dapplepaw growled at the tom suddenly really tired of him. He looked shocked by her sudden hostility and went back to chatting with Mistpaw who gave her a hard look. She returned the glare tenfold and the gray she-cat backed off a bit unnerved by the coldness of Dapplepaw's blue eyes.

"I'm gonna' go find him before he does something stupid," I muttered, but her friends only flicked their ears at her.

Winding her way through clutters of cats, she looked for her brother who seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Worry for the mouse-brain pierced her heart as the thought that he wandered into one the other tunnels popped into her head. The one they entered from was by far the biggest, but several more smaller and narrower tunnels were punched into the circle-shaped hollow. _There are so many…he'd be lost forever…_Panic started to overtake when she heard pitiful mewling come from the darkness under a cliff where the herbal cats were assembled on top. It was in the very top left corner so she never noticed it.

She jogged towards it and with every step she took forward, the chill came back,and crawled farther and farther up her spine. She shivered, _Don't tell me _he's_ here! Isn't he with Terraclan?!_ The final clan had still yet to arrive and some cats were starting to get impatient. Her jog turned into a trot as fear for her brother grew, but when she saw the source of the mewling through the darkness she fell to the ground and skidded across it causing a cloud of dust to float up,anime style.

"What. Are. You. _Doing_?" she growled through gritted fangs, her fur now dirty. There,before her was her stupid brother, completely fine. The mewling came from the cat he had pinned up against the wall in fear. As she stalked towards her brother, the stench of Seaclan hit her and she made out the scared cat to be a silver she-cat.

"Oh, hey Dapplepaw," her brother said nonchalantly.

"Don't 'hey, Dapplepaw' me!" she screeched at him while using the V-8 on him, "I can't believe I was actually _worried_ about you!"

"You were worried," he asked mystified while rubbing his sore head once again today.

"Dung right,I was," she muttered while spitting on the floor, " in Lightclan are you doing to this poor cat?!"

"Who?" he said before turning his head to look at the she-cat who seemed slightly amused by their quarreling, but now that their attention was on her again, she was shaking with fear again since the enemy had doubled. "Oh her, I just tried to make friends with her, but she kept backing away from me like I was a monster or something."

He turned back to his sister. "What could possibly be frightening about this face?" he asked sweetly while giving an irresistible puppy-dog face.

"Everything, Fatty," Dapplepaw deadpanned not affected by his face that was practically radiating innocence.

_Now_ he was mewling and she sighed before nuzzling her brother comfortingly. He purred into her fur before giving her ear an affectionate lick. "You're such a wimp," she mumbled. He _mrrowed_ in glee.

"S-silver."

They jumped apart at the sudden intrusion of a new voice. Dapplepaw whipped toward the silver she-cat who was no longer shivering.

"What?"

She stared down at her paws kneading the ground, "S-silver…paw"

"Is that your name?" Patchpaw asked while jumping at the she-cat, his eyes sparkling joyfully to have had finally made her talk. In response, she jumped back which caused her to bounce off the wall and crash back into Patchpaw. She screamed and quickly darted away into the light.

"Yes," she squeaked. Dapplepaw took this time to get a good look at the cat; she was indeed silver like she had thought, but now she knew her eyes were blue, like her own. _Wait a second…_ Before her eyes, Silverpaw's eyes were slowly growing paler and paler as she relaxed. _So her eyes are_ pale_ blue, but get darker when she's scared? …Pawesome._

"My name is Patchpaw and this is my sister, Dapplepaw, but you don't want to know her, she'll eat your soul. We're from Sparkclan!" chimed Patchpaw.

Dapplepaw was too startled to notice that her brother just insulted her and turned to see this Silverpaw's reaction.

"I-I'm from…Seaclan," she mumbled.

"No duh, you reek of salty fish," Dapplepaw deadpanned again and poor Silverpaw flinched at the insult.

"Now play nice, Apple Dapple," Patchpaw scolded gently like their father would and even used his little pet name for her. She would of pounced on him right there if the chill hadn't got in the way. She had gotten used to it, but now it was turning even colder and passing over her whole body. Her head whipped in all directions trying to find the cause of this and was met by Silverpaw reacting the same way as her. Patchpaw just watched the she-cats while pouting because he thought they'd started some game and were not including him. So being the lovable moron he was, he started shaking his head from side to side, too.

"Terraclan's here!" a cat yelled giving them their answer. They stopped searching and Patchpaw started stumbling around because he was dizzy.

She swiftly spun around to face the entrance as the last clan finally arrived to the Assembly. Her blue orbs tried to pick out the pelts of cats she knew. _That big tabby that attacked Burninggold is in front so I guess he is leader and that brown-and-gray she-cat behind him is the one that attacked Fogfur. I can see Ivyshadow and her protégé, but Ratstreak and Spottedlight don't seem to have come._ Dapplepaw chuckled darkly at knowing that. _Aw, that obnoxious cat, Amberpaw, is here with-_ She froze and the chill increased so much that she swore she could see her breath. He's _here!_

Her eyes followed the golden brown tabby as he ran into the hollow with the rest of his clanmates. The Terraclan cats quickly tried to mingle since now that they'd finally shown up, they should be starting soon. _That_ tom, Amberpaw, a ginger tom, a pale she-cat, Ivyshadow's protégé, and a dark gray tom grouped together and searched for their own friends. She tried to hide in the shadows as the tom started searching her area, but she moved too late and they locked eyes. They both stiffened as blue met green and gold, and the strangest thing occurred. The chill turned into blood boiling warmth that somehow cooled her and she could feel her heart beating faster. _W-What's going on?!_

A pelt against her side suddenly relaxed and she jumped to see that Silverpaw had pushed up against her radiating the same type of heat, but it strangely comforted her. _Poor cat, she must be even more confused than me._ When she turned back to look at the cause of all this, she was horrified to see him walking over to them with his gang minus Ivyshadow's protégé _(I've got to learn her name)_ and her dark gray counterpart. _This can't get any worse._ As if to prove her wrong, Patchpaw walked up to greet the new faces.

"Hiya!" he shouted happily startling the group except _that_ tom who only glanced at him, "I'm Patchpaw of Sparkclan."

Amberpaw glared at him like he was an annoying flea and the she-cat looked at him with a face that screamed a sarcastic "Really?", but the ginger tom greeted her brother back just as enthusiastically, "Hi, Patchpaw! I'm Blazefur. These are my friends Calmstorm, Tigersoul, and his brother, Amberwall."

"Why do I have to be _his brother_?!" Amberwall asked angrily at the same time Dapplepaw cried, "_YOU'RE_ a warrior?!" They turned towards the shadows as she cursed herself for crying out and tried to hide, again.

"We all know you're in there so you might as well come out," Tigersoul told her. His voice was smooth, husky, and slightly deep so that it reminded her of warm honey for some reason. She huffed before revealing herself and a trembling Silverpaw. He got warm under his pelt as the two she-cats joined the group.

Amberwall hissed at her, "YOU!"

"Me? Generic much?" she responded wittily.

He growled back at her and the she-cat, Calmstorm, spoke up, "You have some nerve speaking to a warrior like that, _protégé_." She said it like she wasn't a protégé herself just a few days ago.

"Well, if he's a warrior, then I really fear for Terraclan's future," Dapplepaw goaded sending Amberwall into a hissing fit, but her attention went back to Tigersoul. _Tigersoul, huh? So I finally learn his name._ The two stared at each other, neither of them wanting to fold while the three other cats watched them curiously (Blazefur and Patchpaw were completely off in their own little bubble of happiness). Calmstorm was seething with jealously and eventually nuzzled up to Tigersoul purring, forcing him to look at her instead and making Amberwall throw another temper tantrum.

"Don't bother with these _kits_, Tigersoul," she purred seductively into his shoulder.

Now, Dapplepaw was seething…with FURY! "Who you calling kits, you _female dog!_"

"WHAT did you call me?!" Calmstorm demanded(not being so calm) and stepping away from Tigersoul who breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Oh my bad, I guess I should've said _deaf_ female dog."

The two she-cats were suddenly in fighting crouches ready to tear at each other's throat. Then,a blur of orange jumped in between them.

"_Peeeeeeeeaaaaaaaacccccccce,_" Blazefur breathed while holding up two claws on both paws (peace signs) and pointing one each at the feuding she-cats. They all sweat dropped.

"He's right," Tigersoul grumbled a bit embarrassed by his friend's weirdness, "You're all acting like furballs and getting on my nerves." Calmstorm looked like her heart has been shattered, but Dapplepaw pulled at the side of her mouth with her paws and stuck her tongue out at him like a kit. He raised a brow at that, "You know it can stick like that?" Before, Dapplepaw could respond the leaders gave the yowl signaling that the Assembly was about to begin.

Patchpaw and Blazefur waved good-bye happily at each other like they'd found their soul mates or something _(Oh great Lightclan, there's_ two_ of them) _and Silverpaw giggled quietly as they headed for their respective clans. Dapplepaw turned to leave and her face met dark gray fur.

"Watch it!" she yowled while spitting out hairs.

"Watch yourself," Windpaw retorted.

"Oh, not you again," they muttered at the same time when they recognized each other. This caused them to glare each other down. Soft chuckling from behind made them spin and see Tigersoul smirking at them. _Just something about that smirk…_she thought unsheathing her claws. That was when the burning returned tenfold and they felt like someone had set them on fire. Their wide eyes locked along with Silverpaw's who was trembling behind the once feuding protégés. Before they could ponder what was happening, the leaders gave one last warning yowl and they raced off to their clans' sides.

She and Patchpaw found a space between Darkstripes and Skunkblaze,and looked up at the four leaders. Burninggold was sitting atop a boulder with more puny, twinkling rocks in it though these seemed to be all gold, orange, red, and yellow. To his right (Dapplepaw's left) was a gray-and-white she-cat on her own boulder that was near a tunnel,that had wind blowing into the hollow causing her long fur to blow in it. To his left (Dapplepaw's right) a fierce-looking tom,who reminded her of Tigersoul and Amberwall,sat comfortably in a groove atop a pile of to the far left,was a slick, silver-and-white tom resembling Mistpaw on a boulder with a small stream split around it coming in from a tunnel that brought in the smell of sea salt and flowed into another tunnel. The lieutenants sat next to their respective leader's rock.

"On this night of the new moon, we hold a gathering of all clans under a pledge of peace," Burninggold began as the senior leader, "Who would like to begin."

"Hurricaneclan would like to report first, Burninggold," the gray-and-white she-cat stated standing and dipping her head in respect to the elder leader. Skunkblaze whispered into their ears that the she-cat was Breezegem, leader of Hurricaneclan. As if knowing it was her time to begin, the wind picked up and blew her fur around making her look majestic and even…magical. The two young protégé's watched in awe.

"Hurricaneclan has little to report. Windpaw has been reassigned to train under Grasstail," she paused as surprised murmurs started and they looked at the protégé warily wondering what he did, "In lighter news, Echolight has moved to the nursery expecting Haredash's kits." The majority of cats turned to congratulate the brown tom that was in Cherrytip and Windpaw's group earlier,and his head bowed in embarrassment. Breezegem sat back down and the wind returned to a gentle breeze.

"Terraclan will go next," the golden brown tabby claimed as he stood up on his pile of rocks causing a few pebbles to skitter down. This time, Darkstripes growled into their ears that this was Rockbronze, leader of Terraclan. Dapplepaw wondered what the leader of the clan that attacked them would say.

"Terraclan is as strong as ever. We have four new warriors, Tigersoul, Amberwall, Blazefur, and Calmstorm," he proclaimed as cats called the new warriors' names while Dapplepaw snorted, then Rockbronze continued, "In other news, Ratstreak was severely injured in a recent battle with Sparkclan. I'd like to inform you that his spine is now broken and he has lost all mobility and feeling in his hind legs. I'm afraid his career as a warrior has been cut all too short." Cats began to meow their sympathy for Ratstreak and saying how he didn't deserve this, but she felt no such sympathy. _Hmph! He helped that raging Spottedlight nearly kill my mother, this is nothing more than a fairly dealt hand of Karma._ Rockbronze slumped back down on his rocks and glared at Burninggold to say anything about the battle, but the ginger leader only stood to report for Sparkclan coolly and calmly. The twinkles in the boulder seemed to glow brighter.

"Sparkclan too is stronger," Burninggold reported calmly, "We have new warriors as well, Foxfire and Duskshade." He paused as the clans too chanted Foxfire and Duskshade's names before continuing, "We also have three new protégés, Cloudpaw, Dapplepaw, and Patchpaw. Patchpaw and Dapplepaw are here with us tonight." The brother and sister puffed their chests out proudly as the clans chanted their names. "In addition, Frostedflower has also moved to the nursery expecting Scarcoat's kits and Poppytail has given birth to a healthy litter of two. Their names are Morningkit and Peachkit, a tom and she-kit. That is all." Their leader couldn't help, but smile smugly at the Terraclan leader as Sparkclan only had good news to report. Cats murmured congratulations to Scarcoat who sat up proudly and called Foxfire and Duskshade's names.

The yowlers were shushed as Quicksilver stood up. Their ears were met both by his voice and the sound of the stream's water flowing more rapidly, "The fish are swimming swiftly in Seaclan and we are happy to have nothing to report." With that he leapt from his boulder and the Assembly came to a close. Hurricaneclan, being the fastest, managed to leave first followed my Sparkclan. Dapplepaw turned to see Seaclan leaving through the tunnel the stream flowed in from while Terraclan awaited their turn to leave.

"Scarcoat lead the clan back home safely for me," Burninggold told his lieutenant, "Dapplepaw, Patchpaw, please come with me."

The gray-and-white littermates looked at each other confused, but followed their leader anyway down another tunnel. Looking down, more ancient paw prints could be seen imprinted in the stone path. The tunnel grew darker and darker as they got farther from Starlight Cave. This was why it was her whiskers that alerted her to them coming into another open space.

"Follow the sound of my voice," their leader said.

They did and ended up bumping into a glossy surface.

"Oof!"

Burninggold chuckled, "This is the Mooncrystal. Cats speak with Lightclan using this, but only on the night of a full moon. You'll understand if you ever have to come here."

She nodded though she doubted he could see it. _All protégés must come to the Mooncrystal before they can graduate to warriors._ The three cats left the Mooncrystal's cave behind and followed the scent of the other clans back to their territory. As she turned to the path in front of her all she could think was, _I can't wait to flop down in my soft moss bed._

* * *

The cats that went to the Assembly arrived back to a silent, safe, but silent camp and happily used the last of their strength to pad to their respective dens for much needed sleep. Dapplepaw gladly curled up in her nest and easily fell into a deep sleep…

NOT.

She suddenly couldn't seem to fall asleep and opened her eyes. The sight before her caused her to jump up on the bare ground that had replaced her nest. _You've got to be kidding me._ She was now standing in a clearing on a grassy cliff surrounded by trees on every side except the edge pointing towards Spirit Stretch. She looked up the cliff's point and stared in awe at the stars. _They seem to shine brighter here in…wherever I am._ The rustling of undergrowth caused her to whip around with her claws unsheathed ready to fight.

"Calm yourself, Dapplepaw," a lovely sounding voice cooed to her. Somehow, this voice made her feel safe, loved, and blissful. Out of the undergrowth stepped the voice's owner, a gorgeous white she-cat with stars twinkling in her fur giving her a glow.

Dapplepaw stared in horror at the she-cat, "M-Mother?!"

She chuckled, "Close, darling." The white cat stepped forward out of the shadows of the trees and into the light of Spirit Stretch. Now, the protégé could see that this white cat had amber eyes, not blue like her mother's and hers. "I am Snowfall of Sparkclan."

"Snowfall," Dapplepaw pondered. _That name sounds familiar…_Then it hit her, "Y-You're Wolffang's old mate and…my grandmother."

Snowfall nodded, "Indeed I am." She nuzzled against her granddaughter who could see the yearning for her family in her amber orbs.

"But…you're dead," Dapplepaw once again deadpanned, "If you're here, then this means this place is… Lightclan's hunting grounds and if this is Lightclan's hunting grounds then that would mean I'm…dead." The last word came out as barely more than whisper.

"Don't worry, darling. You are not dead and it will be quite a while before you do die," Snowfall assured her.

"Then, why am I here?"

Instead of answering her question, her grandmother turned to leave and signaled with her tail for her to follow. Reluctantly, Dapplepaw padded after Snowfall and followed through the dark forest. The night was silent except for the sound of their treading paws, the occasional owl hoot, and the rapid beating of her heart that she swore her grandmother could hear, but said nothing about out of politeness.

Eventually, the ground began to slope downward and they stumbled upon a huge, smooth hole in the ground like a giant paw scooped it out with a sparkling pool in the middle reflecting Spirit Stretch. Snowfall lead her into the hole and she could make out the shapes of other cats. When they reached them, Dapplepaw couldn't help but gasp as she recognized two cats in particular. "Tigersoul! Silverpaw!"

The two turned to face her with Silverpaw just as startled to see her, but quickly went back to her cowering at being in Lightclan. Tigersoul, on the other hand, was as pokerfaced as ever which got her blood boiling again so she looked away. Her gaze fell on the two cats Snowfall was seated next to. They were another she-cat,who was yellow with orange stripes, and a tom with a fiery orange pelt, all with stars in their fur.

"I am Brightgold, leader of Sparkclan before Burninggold," said the yellow-and-orange she-cat when she saw the young protégé staring at her. Dapplepaw nodded. Her voice silently commanded obedience and radiated power.

"And I'm Sparkgold, founder of Sparkclan," said the orange tom.

She stared dumbfounded at him, "You created Sparkclan, my home?"

He smirked at her and she felt herself burn with strength and energy. She almost fainted from the sudden adrenaline rush, but Snowfall steadied her.

"Careful now, darling. Words have much power, especially those of the ones who dwell in the afterlife." She nodded too dizzy to speak, "Now let me introduce you to the others." Her white tail pointed to the three toms discussing with Tigersoul. "They're Terrabronze, Squirrelleap, and Sageleaf of Terraclan," she pointed out the large brown tom, the golden one, and a mottled one who looked similar to Squirrelleap. Dapplepaw kind of felt sad when she saw the mottled tom too had stars in his fur. _He died so young._

Then Snowfall introduced the cats with Silverpaw, "Seasilver, Darksilver, and Sharksilver." There was a silky silver she-cat, dark gray tabby, and pale gray-and-white tom. The padding of more paws dragged the assembled cats gaze to the top of the slope where four more cats were just spilling over the rim. Dapplepaw visibly shrank when she saw the living cat with them was none other than Windpaw. The dark gray protégé looked just as depressed to see them there as well.

"Hurricanegem, Boltgem, Pollenfur," Sparkgold bowed his head slightly to the other Lightclan cats; a thick-furred dark gray cat, a black tom, and a ginger-speckled brown tom.

"Finally, we can start," Sharksilver complained while the other Lightclan cats rolled their eyes at him.

"Now, you'll tell us why we're here?" Tigersoul demanded, but no one said anything and instead a fierce wind blew with a soft voice speaking upon it;

_The howling winds of an unstoppable storm_

_And the light shining silver off the water_

_Can save the clans in their darkest hour_

_With the leadership of one with the spirit of the tiger;_

_But in the end, only a dapple of snow-time's touch _

_Will guide you to your brightest future._

When the wind died, Silverpaw was a distraught mess. "W-W-What was that?!" she demanded.

"That was the prophecy, dear," Seasilver said gently.

"About us?" Dapplepaw guessed, "The unstoppable windstorm, silver water, tiger spirit, and dapple of snow-time?"

"That's what we believe," Brightgold answered.

"So something bad is going to happen?" Windpaw questioned.

"Well, obviously," Hurricanegem snapped in her raspy voice. It made Dapplepaw shiver; her voice sounded like angry wind blowing through bare, mangled branches in snow-time.

"B-But this can't be t-true," Silverpaw wailed, "I can barely manage as a protégé; how am I suppose to help save the clans?!"

"With your gifts," Darksilver responded. That shut her up.

"You guys are…'gifted', too?" Dapplepaw looked at them with eyes that reflected both shock and disappointment. _Man, I thought I was special. Well, I guess I am part of this prophecy, though._ "What can you guys do?"

"Super-speed," Windpaw retorted proudly.

"I can breath underwater," Silverpaw mumbled to her paws.

Dapplepaw looked expectantly at Tigersoul, but he only reinstated their staring contest from earlier. "Well, SPIT IT OUT!"

"Invisibility," he finally muttered while jerking his gaze away from her, losing once again.

"Dung, that's pretty cool. All I can do is jump really high." She didn't realize she had said that out loud until Tigersoul gave that smirk of his and said, "I know."

"How?!" she gasped, her fur bristling in irritation.

His smirk disappeared and he simply blinked at her, "The battle? Ratstreak? Ring any bells, furball." She growled at him while Windpaw and Silverpaw looked at her stunned. "_You_ did that to him?!" they exclaimed. She looked away now feeling kind of guilty at the wary looks now in their eyes. _How could they be scared of little ol' me?_

"It is getting late," Grainfur spoke up.

"Yes, these cats have just come from an Assembly. They need to rest," agreed Boltgem.

"Wait!" cried Windpaw, "You're just going to leave us to deal with this prophecy mumbo-jumbo on our own?!"

"No, you'll see us again," Sageleaf told him.

"When?" Dapplepaw asked.

"When it is time," Squirrelleap spoke for his son.

"Generic much?" she replied.

"Is that your catchphrase or something?" Tigersoul pondered.

"No, my catch phrase is 'Got it memorized?'," she answered.

Windpaw asked, "Got what memorized?"

"No, 'Got _it_ memorized?" Silverpaw corrected jokingly.

"How can I memorize it if I don't know what IT is?" Windpaw demanded frustrated.

All was silent.

"WHAT!" he screamed.

"Good. Night," Terrabronze finished sounding annoyed and everything went dark.

**So I kept having to go over this because I was like, "there's no way this is all one chapter". I mean, 18 MW pages and 8,600-something words-that's my longest chapter EVER! For anything! But it was indeed, if you haven't noticed, then I'll inform that I've had these stories at least started before actually joining Fanfiction so I can't exactly remember what was going through my head at the time. Anyway, since this is worthy of two chapters, this will be all we'll be hearing from Sparkclan this cycle. **

**(Also note,Dapplepaw has more chapters not because she is my favorite, but because the first book focuses on Sparkclan. Each of the other clans will have their time to shine in the following continuations. SPOILER: I think I'll do Hurricaneclan next, then Seaclan, and end it with Terraclan.)**

**PS-The whole "dead cats' words have much power" thing I totally made up. You'll find out the other Lightclan cats' vocal influences later, but tell me what you think of this little bonus tidbit.**

**PPS-I Wuv AXEL!**


	8. Chapter 7:Tiger

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**So here's the story of my lateness: I had just finished writing up a new chapter for this story and I was like, "Hm,when was the last time I updated this,anway?" So I went to the "Manage Stories" tab and looked at the last updated thing and it said the 18th,right. So I was like,"then it should be updated the 23rd,yeah,no prob."**

**It's the 25th.**

**So here's my late update,I'll make sure to repost in three days time to make up for it.**

**Chapter 8**

_Tigersoul grumbled,disgruntled,as he_ slowly rose out of unconsciousness. Green and golden eyes appeared in the gloom of the nearly empty warrior's den. The golden brown tabby reluctantly got to his paws and stretched thoroughly. He sighed,content,after hearing a satisfying click of his bones setting back in their proper places, then set to lazily grooming his disheveled fur.

His eyes wandered the den,taking in his remaining clanmates; two shapes were rising and falling at steady rates. He recognized the small black shape of Nightstrike and the faint, pink crescent cutting Antnose's face in half. A third cat with long, flecked gray fur, Pebbleclaw, finished up his own grooming and soon left the den casting a short glance at his newest denmate.

_Good_, he thought to himself, _some peace and quiet for me to contemplate my dream._ And he did, after all it was very…intriguing? Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to think of the prophecy and his ancestors' sudden involvement in his life. He'd never planned on being anything special; the weight of being the leader's son was annoying as it was, so he couldn't say this new found "destiny" excited him. _Though it was good to find out Sagepaw, or Sageleaf, and Squirrelleap were doing fine in the afterlife. How did he get his warrior name anyway? He looked like he had aged as well…now that's interesting._ The actual workings of Lightclan were unknown to most, except the herbal cats of course, but he'd never heard that when cats died they kept aging. _Although, it has to stop eventually or else, our founders and the others wouldn't be around. Either way, Blazefur will be happy to hear-_

Tigersoul immediately stopped that train of thought. He wasn't sure he should tell anyone, it was after all HIS prophecy-well, with Dapplepaw, Silverpaw, and Windpaw, but still. Blazefur was his oldest and closest friend who he had never kept a secret from before. Plus, he thought the ginger tom had the to right to know about his dead loved ones. A hind leg lifted to his ear to get at a scratch as he made his decision, _I can trust Blazefur. I know I can. Besides, knowing that goofball he probably won't even take it seriously._

His mind made up, he finally padded out of the warriors' cave and headed down the slope. A warm feeling always churned as he left and enter the cave; it was his den now. Being a great warrior for Terraclan had always been his goal from the very beginning and nothing more.

The signature smirk played at the corners of his lips as he thought about the first time the newly named warriors entered the cave to sleep. Blazefur, being the cat that he was, had gone back to the protégé's den and dropped dead asleep. Briarpaw and Boulderpaw had tried to wake him, but no go. When Blazefur knocks out, he knocks out _hard_.

Morning had well arrived so the center of camp was bustling as usual. Shredcoat, their only ancient, seemed to be dozing away to the right of the tunnel entrance, but a faint amber gleam told Tigersoul the old cat was indeed awake and watching. His namesake dark tabby pelt hung off his body in uneven clumps, the fur never growing back in right after being ripped apart by enemy claws.

The aforementioned protégé littermates were practicing battle moves on one another as they waited to see if their mentors would train them or join a patrol of some sort. Briarpaw's long, dark brown fur was fluffing up, the dark gray tabby stripes dancing, as her focused green eyes followed her brother's every move. The dark gray tom was leaping all around her like an excited frog most likely failing at attempting to be a Sparkclan warrior. Tensions with their arch rivals were rising everyday as both clans refused to confess to stealing prey from the other.

Passing a leaving patrol, he gave a sigh to see his ginger friend was on it along with Amberwall and Spottedlight. _That _can't_ end well,_ he thought eyeing Blazefur's mottled mother suspiciously. He finally ended up on the edge of a crowd of warriors surrounding their lieutenant, Stoneheart. The dull-furred brown and gray she-cat was just finishing up the last two patrols.

"Shadetail," she addressed another flecked gray tom. He waved his darker tail in acknowledgement, "Take Calmstorm, Kestrelwing, and Falconswoop along the Sparkclan border. We don't want those _softhearts_ crossing the border anymore." Many of the gathered warriors let out low growls of agreement and lashed their tails angrily. "Tunnelstone you lead a hunting patrol through Tall Pines with Broadlion and…," she glanced suddenly at something behind Tigersoul and smiled deviously, "And Antnose."

_Oh no,_ Tigersoul sighed as Antnose cringed before setting his amber glare on the lieutenant. The two had been at each others' throats for as long as he'd known them and it had only gotten worse when Squirrelleap died. The golden warrior was obviously the better candidate for Lieutenant, but when he died, it left those two fighting tooth and claw for the position. It was kind of sad that they were more worried about who'd get to takeover than the fact that a great warrior had died.

When Stoneheart ended up getting the position, something changed about Antnose. He couldn't really tell what, but the dark speckled tom seemed much more…_calculating_ about his next moves. But we're getting off topic now; the simple reason Antnose didn't want to hunt is because of his namesake nose. The scar makes it nearly impossible to scent anything. That's why he spends a lot of time sharpening his claws on rocks; if he can't hunt, then he'll make sure _no_ cat can beat him in a fight.

The tom muttered some inaudible dark words before disappearing out of the tunnel with his patrol. A dark light shone in Stoneheart's eyes as she and the gathered warriors disassembled. Tigersoul honestly didn't see why his father would choose her of all cats; the she-cat's personality was just about as appealing as her appearance.

He shrugged it off as he sat to rethink his plans now that Blazefur was gone. Ivyshadow strutted over to the protégés and said some words to them. Before long they too were padding out of camp with a drowsy Nightstrike trailing behind her protégé. _Maybe she got Boulderpaw too early,_ Tigersoul wondered watching the slim she-cat let loose another gaping yawn before disappearing into the mouth of the entrance tunnel.

The yawn passed onto himself for he wasn't all that awake either, considering he hadn't been given anything to do to put his body in motion. _Ugh, I'm not in the mood for more sleeping. Cats will think I'm being lazy,_ he told himself lashing his tail in frustration.

An idea suddenly came to his mind that set his whiskers quivering. Enacting on the thought, the tabby tom padded across the camp, leaped the stream, and headed into his old hunting grounds.

"Well, isn't this nice," Fawnpelt mewed upon his arrival, "My little kit is all grown up, but he still knows to visit his mother." She purred at him before rubbing the light brown fur of her muzzle against his. A low purr of his own poured out of his throat lighting up his mother's green eyes.

They sat down outside the nursery and began sharing tongues. "So how's your life as a warrior so far?" Fawnpelt questioned her son.

"Fine," he answered, "So far there's been plenty of sleeping."

A _mrrow_ of amusement came from her, "Yes, I'm sure there has, but don't get used to it. Soon you'll be patrolling at night and training a protégé." Her gaze rested on the other cats in the area, "Maybe you'll even get one of them."

He looked towards the kits. Birdkit was larger than his slightly younger cousins and seemed to be playing some sort of monster, may it be a fox, badger, or a Pinktree's pet Dragon. Crowkit circled him slowly, her dark gray fur fluffed up to make her look twice as big, while her brother, Specklekit, hopped back and forth swiping at the brown tabby kit with each forward movement. His lean, black-speckled, white body was unusually built like a Hurricaneclan cat, making speed his biggest ally. Burnkit was sitting tall shortly behind them.

"How dare you trespass onto Terraclan territory, you vile fox!" the tortoiseshell and ginger she-kit proclaimed dramatically, "You shall not escape unharmed for your dungy crime." He couldn't hold back a chortle at her choice of words. Hers and Birdkit's sister, Blossomkit, was gleefully chasing after her pale ginger tail,happy as a lark,in her own world. Then the last one, Berrykit, who was the sister of Crowkit and Specklekit, was off by herself just attentively yet disinterestedly licking a dark cream paw. Their mothers, Fieldflower and Sunpetal, were arguing (as usual) over who had the more impressive mate. Antnose might be pretty imposing, but Falconswoop was a good, hardy cat if somewhat… prude.

Tigersoul cocked his head while pondering what his mother had said. If he did get one of them, he'd prefer Birdkit or Berrykit. Birdkit not only had the size and obvious strength advantage over his denmates, but he was also more cautious, too. Both Crowkit and Specklekit had shown to be headstrong and stubborn which would surely cause trouble for their future mentors while Blossomkit was quite honestly just a ditz. Burnkit was the natural-born leader type, but got easily distracted and was only interested in what was fun. Berrykit, obviously a more timid and calm kit than any of the others, often preferred to be off by herself or delved deep into one of Shredcoat's stories. But it was unlikely that he'd be any of the kits' mentor with nine other eligible warriors who all had much more experience than him. Maybe he'd get one of Beaverblaze's kits, though. The tortoiseshell and ginger queen was starting to get pretty round even though it'd be around a moon before her kits would be born.

Suddenly, Specklekit noticed they were being watched and stopped scratching his cousin to tread over to the young warrior.

"Hey, Tiggy-sool!" he squeaked. The kits were going on three moons, but they still hadn't completely mastered the art of proper language. "Can you tell us a stewy?"

_Story was probably the word he meant,_ he figured. "Why don't you ask Shredcoat for something like that," Tigersoul quickly tried to evade entertaining the kits, but it was too late. Once one of them had gained a new source of interest, they all swarmed like a pack of vultures. He gulped as he was suddenly engulfed by a sea of large pleading eyes; even the warm amber eyes of Berrykit were among them.

Fawnpelt purred, "Oh come on Tigersoul, how can you disappoint such a captivating audience?"

The golden brown tabby glared back at his mother for her most unhelpful words. Playing with kits was most certainly not one of his hobbies. All of a sudden, the soft trotting of tiny paws over his much larger ones stole back his attention.

"Stewy?" Blossomkit pleaded, her green eyes shimmering like emeralds.

He gulped taking in the full affect of the little she-kit's cuteness, but eventually even he had to fold to their irresistible adorability. "What do you want to hear?" he finally muttered, his head bowing in defeat.

All of the kits squealed in delight and bounced around doing little victory dances, but settled down after Birdkit fell down hard on his rump. "It's got to be exciting!" he said.

"But not scawy, we don't want nightmares," Blossomkit added to her brother's statement.

Crowkit snorted at her, "Bwing on the acshun! I'm not scared of a wittle ol' stewy."

"Yeah!" Specklekit agreed with his sister, "Tell us wun where Tewwaclan beats ALL da oda clans…not that we don't anyway." His own amber gaze flashed in anticipation and his black tail stuck straight up into the air.

The hairs of Berrykit's pelt suddenly stood on end as an idea popped up in her little mind, "Like da Big Cat cwans." They squeaked agreement to her idea and started bombarding him with questions on the original wildcats.

Tigersoul himself had been told the stories of the huge cats that once roamed endless territories before the time of Pinktrees. There was Lionclan the brave, Cheetahclan the swift, Leopardclan the powerful, and of course his own namesake, Tigerclan the cunning. Memories of his kit-hood flooded through his head as the ancient tales came back to him.

"Well," he started, "It all began in an immense land long, long ago…" Then he unfolded the history of the Big Cats to the young kits.

Lionclan was up first. Sparkclan was always trying to act like them. These cats were the most noble of them all and were the first to come up with a rough draft for the warrior code by living in prides. This pride life passed on to the other Big Cats until the ancient clans were finally assembled. Sun was the name of the leader back during that time. Like all male lions, he was large and golden with a mane of fur surrounding his broad, flat head like the rays of his namesake. Proper warrior names didn't come around until the clan founders' time. He told the kits that their loyalty and determination to follow each and every aspect of the code was passed down from Lionclan.

Leopardclan followed up. These Big Cats were the personal favorite role models for Terraclan. Powerful hunters that lurked in the shadows and took down their prey with tremendous bounds. If they didn't want to be found, then they wouldn't be found. Crash was the very first leader of Leopardclan with a fierce gaze and more horrifying bite. Clan cats today got their stealth, hunting capabilities, and great hind legs from them.

The third clan was Cheetahclan. No creature has ever seen anything else that could match a cheetah's speed. Even Hurricaneclan can only dream of running with these mighty speeders. Lithe and long-legged, they weren't the greatest fighters, never daring to challenge any of the other clans. Storm, a real beauty, led the original Cheetahclan and was the first great she-cat leader. Some called them cowards for always running when the going got tough, but without them the speed, agility, and quick reflexes wired into clan cats now wouldn't be there.

Finally, there was Tigerclan. The great predators of the night and lords of the water. Their sleek pelts still were the trademark of Seaclan today. Large striped orange cats were what made up Tigerclan and, each and every one was bursting with pride in themselves and their clan. The first leader, Torrent, was the perfect example of each of these aspects. They seemed to fear nothing which could often get them in trouble, but they would never give up without a fight. Be it in the shadows, the water, open space, or thick forests, these incredible warriors would always fight on. Their ways of battle and ambition to be great ran through the much smaller warriors of today.

"Even kits like you," Tigersoul finished. Every one of the kits was now staring at him wide-eyed completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the ancient clans' legacy. So much so that it was actually completely silent around the nursery for a good long while except for the muffled arguing of Fieldflower and Sunpetal in the background.

"W-What happened to them?" Berrykit eventually meowed, her soft, little voice barely more than a whisper.

He blinked at her, his eyes tormented with sorrow and rage. "The _Pinktrees_ happened," he spat out causing the kits to flinch away, "They came with their pet Dragons ripping up what was the endless territories that the ancient clans once had. You know they say that Lionclan's territory stretched to every piece of land that the sun touched, but that all changed drastically with the Pinktrees' arrival. Many were loss and eventually the Big Cats could no longer survive in large groups like clans. They were too easy to spot that way. So the ancient clans, Lionclan, Leopardclan, Cheetahclan, and Tigerclan, were disassembled leaving behind only an empty echo of their once great reign. No one heard from their once proud and just warriors again until the days of Terrabronze, Sparkgold, Seasilver, and Hurricanegem much, much later on in time."

Specklekit narrowed those amber eyes of his in doubt, "The foundy cats met Asian clan woyas?"

"Yeah," crowkit agreed with a lash of her tail, "There's no way day cudda gotta wong wit those huge cats."

A smirk pulled at the corners of Tigersoul's mouth. Crowkit and Specklekit were right to be doubtful of those words and it made a small spark of pride glow in his heart. Terraclan would have even more great warriors in the future.

"You're right," he told the littermates and they squealed happily at being right. "The cats the founders met, with what would become the clans, were far different than the Big Cats. They were mere shadows of their ancestors, no bigger than the rest of us, but they held the wisdom and knowledge that the founders would turn into the warrior code. For their help, these cats were then given the newly thought of position of…lieutenants." The kits eyes lit up with recognition at the surprise turn the story had taken. "Lion became Lionlight; a large golden tom with thick fur around his neck, a sign of the mane cats' blood running through his veins, was Sparkgold's lieutenant. Leopard, renamed, Leopardstrike was a dark-dappled, tan and cream tom with killer claws, and lieutenant to Terrabronze."

"We get our claws from him, yeah?!" Birdkit exclaimed and pretended to slash an enemy's muzzle with puny hooked claws, no bigger than a pebble. Specklekit and Crowkit grinned triumphantly as they scratched their much longer claws against the rock underpaw, an inheritance of sorts from their father. Berrykit rolled her eyes at her littermates' smugness.

Blossomkit, completely left out of the others' little spout, hopped around Tigersoul's paws. "Pwease go on! Wut about Seaclan and Hurricaneclan?"

"Yes," he continued as the kits settled down again, "Now, no more outbursts OK? I can't be here all day." Even as he was saying this, his gaze wandered to the holes in the ceiling and he hissed seeing the shadows now slanted to the right. The sun was beginning to set. _Dung, how could I have wasted so much time with these furballs?! Cats will think I'm she-brained._ His tabby-striped tail lashed in anger making the kits knead the ground in worry that they'd done something wrong. He noticed this and immediately calmed himself down. He couldn't really blame them; he had been the one having fun retelling the stories his own mother had told him. But he was a warrior, not a nurse and he needed to get this done and over with.

"Cheetahwind was Hurricanegem's lieutenant and was the one to teach them their swift ways. His speckled ginger coat was said to have been nothing but a blur as he passed by. Tigerstream, lieutenant to Seasilver, was a beautiful, dark brown tabby she-cat with silky fur and a short tail with a bushy, white tip. Water cascaded off her like a waterfall. Each of these cats stood by their leaders' sides, never challenging the cats that had made the legends of their kit-hoods a reality, and fought with honor and passion."

"As all lieutenants should." The deep voice was no surprise to any of them, even the kits; the clacking of Antnose's claws was a dead giveaway. The black-speckled, dark gray tom stood over them eyeing them with a cool amber gaze. "A job of a lieutenant, no, the _destiny_ of lieutenant is to support their leader through rough times and keep them firmly on the right path to a bright future. A clan is incomplete without a lieutenant which is why a new one must always be chosen before a half-day's time. Just as they need one, they need a _good_ one; not just one that is a loyal yes-cat, but one that would be a good leader in their own right. A cat that its clanmates would follow without question or doubt. That is what a lieutenant truly is, a leader in waiting," he finished leaving them all a little baffled. Those were some pretty deep words.

"Well said," Sunpetal purred lovingly coming up alongside him and twining their tails. He,in return, rubbed his muzzle into her pale ginger and white fur. She purred in pleasure while her sister pretended to gag, but Fieldflower wasn't alone. All the kits look like they were dying of FoamMouth disease and Tigersoul wasn't all that comfortable either.

He knew that it would be in the clan's best interest if he did take a mate and sire future Terraclan warriors, but surely that was at least far into his future. She-cats really just seemed like another unwanted bane in his existence at the moment and he couldn't imagine having to worry about the furballs. Taking the parents love-session as a cover, he escaped from having to amuse the kits anymore and slunk back over the river. _Let them have to deal with them_, he thought knowing the kits would complain as soon as they noticed his absence. Though, with their attention spans that could be a while.

During the duration of the tale spinning, Blazefur had returned to camp…but with a nick now in his ear. Tigersoul eyed the flesh wound curiously until in a flash, his ginger friend was on his paws.

"Oh hey, Tiggy-sool," Blazefur _mrrowed_ in amusement while trying to coyly hide his right ear by licking some shoulder fur.

The golden brown tabby flinched. "How do you know about that name?" he demanded slowly.

Blazefur's chocolate eyes were flooding with mischief and delight at his friends embarrassment, "Dude, it's all over the clan. All the she-cats are saying how "dear Tiggy-sool" will just be the GREATEST father." He was rolling on the floor laughing by the time he finished. Cats around them were staring at him irritated making Tigersoul's pelt burn for _two_ reasons.

"Sh-Shut up!" he cried pouncing on his friend. He quickly got off completely humiliated and glared at what seemed to be the _whole_ _clan_ watching with his fur fluffing up as it got hotter and hotter underneath. Two cats who were closest to the duo, Tunnelstone and his mate, Twilightfern, tried to hide their chuckles in their tails, but he heard it none the less.

Tigersoul turned on his so-called "best friend" hissing in fury at having the tables turned on him. _Maybe he's not as stupid as everyone thinks he is,_ he hissed in his head. "You. Come. With. Me." He growled out loud this time.

The other young warrior's eyes widened in fear as Tigersoul darted away to the entrance tunnel. He followed more slowly.

* * *

The two kit-hood friends soon left their camp behind and headed deep into their territory. Neither one said a word even when startled prey skittered away from their far from subtle approach. Tigersoul glanced over his shoulder at Blazefur his eyes narrowed. He was still trying to hide his ear by angling his head away making his tabby friend once again question his blatant stupidity. No sooner than that thought entered his head, a butterfly crossed the ginger warrior's path and he watched intently,completely awestruck. The tabby rolled his eyes.

Many more auspiciously silent moments passed until they reached a clearing in the marshland. Bog surrounded a round area of much firmer and drier land creating an island in mud and muck. This was the training island where they used to train as protégés. The two sat down on the dark ground as memories flooded them.

"Wow," Blazefur murmured, "Haven't been here since Falconswoop and I finished up my assessment." Tigersoul remembered padding into the training space triumphantly with his mentor, Broadlion, carrying two toads and two mice clamped in his jaws. Blazefur, then Blazepaw, had been waiting with the tortoiseshell warrior, Amberpaw with Tunnelstone, and Calmpaw with Spottedlight, each with their own mounds of prey by their paws. A purr rumbled in his throat after mentally reminiscing about the old days, but it immediately was cut off and his eyes darkened as he remembered what he was now and why they were currently in the old hangout.

"Where'd you get that nick?" he asked bluntly.

Blazefur cringed at the direct approach and looked down at his paws. His claws were digging into the dirt, but he said nothing. He made the mistake of looking up at his friend and realized it when he met hard eyes like shined stones.

He gulped, "Well…I was patrolling with your brother and…Mother." He paused after mentioning the mottled she-cat, but continued before Tigersoul could infer anything, "It was along the Hurricaneclan border so it wasn't too much of a surprise that a stray rabbit would pass onto our land, especially now of days. We can never have too much food, right, so I chased the thing down. But it was really hard and I wanted to give up. Then the little bugger kept getting stuck in the mud so eventually I got it."

He got almost a painful look in his eyes as the story went on. "That's when Mother showed up," the words that came out of his mouth could barely be heard, but the grief in them were all too evident. Blazefur laughed dryly, "Ha, I guess she wasn't too happy about me getting sidetracked. I mean we were patrolling, not hunting so I guess it was…my…" His friend couldn't even bring himself to say it…and Tigersoul took it as the last. Mating*. Straw.

"Blazefur," He growled not even trying to conceal his resentment to the situation, "Why can't you see it, you tick-brain! You're mother is flipping pinkie*!" He took a threatening step forward causing the ginger warrior to cringe away. "Don't let her walk all over you," he hissed like an adder.

His friend gulped loudly before folding and looking at his paws completely downcast. He gave a heavy sigh before giving his friend a sorrowful look. Spottedlight might be as crazy as a Pinktree, but she was still his mother. Although, a new fire burned in the depths of those sad chocolate eyes; Blazefur was no cat's plaything. Tigersoul gave a curt nod of acceptance.

Having the regular daft Blazefur gone for too long was a pointless wish and soon, his dopey grin was plastered back on his face. The tabby sighed as his friend spoke up sounding much chipper already, _Then again, maybe he IS smarter than we give him credit for and he's just hiding his true pain behind the mask of an idiot._ "So is that all we're here to discuss?"

He blinked; with all the chaos and unplanned distractions, Tigersoul had completely forgotten about his dream with Lightclan. Fully taking advantage of Blazefur's innocent enough question, he unraveled his news upon the tom. He gasped and smiled and pouted and yowled in excitement, showing more emotion in the short period of time than most probably show in seasons. By the time he was done, Blazefur seemed more exhausted than the one who was telling the story.

"So?" He inquires from him, "You won't tell anyone, right?" Blazefur shook his head and bounced in place most likely thinking about all the adventures they would be having. Tigersoul was starting to regret his decision already.

With their mission fulfilled, the two friends began their journey home with the copper light of the sunset bleeding into the sky. Alas, not even the vigilant Tigersoul noticed the hazy gaze watching them like the finest piece of prey in the marsh.

**Yeah, I know, complete filler-ness and I still haven't gotten to the main plot of this story! Ugh. Anyway, more cute kittens! I'm obsessed. I mean,who could resist those kits with their horrid grammar? Well, unless you're an English teacher. My mom would probably print this just so she could rip it up and burn it in the grill. Yeah, English teachers are SERIOUS about grammar. This is starting to ramble so…R&R! **

**P.S. "Mating" and Pinkie are more cat slang terms I've come up with; Mating is the same as a certain cuss word w/a similar literal meaning and Pinkie is a term for crazy since the cats think we humans are lacking in the sanity department and humans are Pinktrees in this story of mine.**


	9. Chapter 8:Silver

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**Chapter 9**

_Silverpaw cringed as more water splashed_ onto the cold rock underpaw. Being that the cave was home to Seaclan, it was quite normal for the floor to be wet, but this slippery mess was even a hazard for their trained paws. Now there were small puddles scattered all around the Fresh-Catch Pool while the fish inside it were flopping around stupidly wasting what little energy they have because of the lack of water. Again, it was her fault.

She had done this every time since that horrible night three days ago when she got that dreadful news. The horror of the clans' ancestors' decree had dashed any hopes she had of having a happy life. Poor Silverpaw was so shaken that she couldn't even fish out of the pool that even kits could get their own meals from.

_A prophecy?_ she thought, _That can't mean anything good to come. They only foretell danger and now I'm supposed to stop it? Sure I got these powers, but those can barely get me liked none the less _save _all the clans. And from what?_ That was a question that had been nagging her for awhile…and Floodpaw. Naturally, after receiving the dream she had instantly sprinted to her cousin and lone friend to try to ease her burden. The silver tom had been deep in thought ever since and been slacking on his training.

Silverpaw's shoulders slump after remembering that. It didn't need to be pointed out that Mistycloud was old so Floodpaw really did need every possible moment to absorb as much criteria he could get from his master before it was too late. She felt guilty that she had hurt one of the few cats that actually liked her just to help herself. _Saltpaw's right; I am nothing but a nuisance._ Shivering at the thought, she glared disgustingly at her reflection in one of the new puddles. _Saltpaw? Right? Fox-dung, how depressed _am_ I to nearly compliment my brother?_

"Coral for brains? Are you listening to me?!" a raspy yell jarred the protégé from her inner musings. She sighed mentally upon seeing two angry ancients glaring at her. Sunsetwater was one thing, you expected nastiness from him, but it stung with Jellyfishfur's brown daggers launched at her, too. The two were grooming each other and you could see little droplets dripping off there whiskers. _Oh._

The ginger ancient hissed. "What's wrong wit' ya?" he demanded, "Ya actin' dimmer than dat der brother of ya's. Got guppies swimmin' up der, do ya?" Blue eyes blinked at him. _It feels good to hear someone else complaining about Saltlpaw, but Sunsetwater being…less crude? My world really is turning upside-down._

"S-Sorry," she mumbled while looking at her dainty paws. He huffed and turned back to his mate as they continued to dry their fur from her mockery of fishing. Her bout of fame and popularity had been all too short. Her worrying over the prophecy thing had even affected her powers and she had needed to be save from drowning quite a bit in the past days. Silverpaw wasn't surprised her grandmother didn't try to come to her aid or anything. Riverrapid was probably the only other cat in the clan more useless than her. Ouch, way to cut yourself short.

Turning away from the ancients' den, her paws automatically set on the path to the medicine cats' den. Did she really go there so often? Was Floodpaw really her only salvation in this world? The silver she-cat had never felt so anguished in her life. She had to be the most pathetic cat, no _life_, in that world. Stopping after only a few steps, her head bowed with the weight of depression. She laughed bitterly in her head, _No one needs me. This prophecy is mouse-brained. I can't help anyone._

Subconsciously, her eyes wandered to her right. She had stopped in front of the nursery and the kits were out and about, but not making mischief. Quite unlike them. Instead the two oldest, Salmonkit and Dolphinkit, were absentmindedly pushing a clam shell skidding across the floor whenever it came to them. The gray brothers, Rainkit and Spraykit, seemed completely unaware that their bigger playmates weren't as into their game as they were…that or they just didn't care.

Blinking, she continued to watch the little ginger kit and his blue-gray sister. They were tense glancing to the left often, but soon flitting away as to not arise suspicion, but really it just made things more obvious. The littermates were definitely planning something, but she shrugged it off. She wasn't their mother and to be quite honest, what was the worst they could get up to when they were in camp and under the protection of strong warriors? She did, however, follow their flickering gazes.

Up ahead,more in the center of camp, a few cats were gathering around Summoning Rock. On top were Quicksilver and Dewspirit in all their glory. The two pale cats seemed to be discussing something top secret because they were whispering in hushed voices. Dewspirit had an intense look on her face causing her brow and muzzle to scrunch up. She should be careful about that; Deepcrack always told Silverpaw that she-cats needed to smile or else their faces would get stuck looking like over dried seaweed and you'd never get a mate. Of course, toms were the least of her worries.

Glancing at her uncle, the silver tom seemed to be trying to soothe his disgruntled lieutenant, but his yellow eyes were lacking their normal brightness. As more and more warriors settled around the boulder, Quicksilver seemed to have given up and simply leaped off heading to his den across from where the ancients' den and nursery were located. She returned her gaze just in time to see Dewspirit shake out her fluffy white fur before leaping off the rock as well and into the awaiting crowd.

The light refracted into the cave through the waterfall was a bright amber color and warmed her silky pelt. It had to be around sun-high she concluded which meant more patrols were to be sent out. Not having anything better to do, she trotted over to her assembled clanmates even though she doubted she would be picked to go anywhere with her recent streak.

"'Kay, y'all," started Dewspirit. "We need the regular Spark-Terra border patrolling done. Waveshake, I want ya in charge of that," she nodded to Featherstep's mate, a gray tom with a bushy white tail-tip. He nodded to signify that she could continue. "Littlemouse, Fishtail, why don't the two of ya accompany him." Her father and Littlemouse, a white-and-gray tom not too bigger than her, also nodded and soon all three toms were out to do their job.

Dewspirit continued with more trivial procedures, "A hunting patrol should go for sand food today. We haven't had crabs in a while. Dovepool and Hermitshell, ya two could use some partner work." The familiar calico tom and Littlemouse's sister nodded and too left for their assignment.

Nodding in satisfaction, the white lieutenant suddenly set a fierce gaze on her subjects. Cats started to murmur uneasily and Shallowwhisker's litter pricked their ears forward to eavesdrop.

"Now we can get down to some serious matters," Quicksilver reappeared and proclaimed, ceasing all little conversations within the remains of the group. "Those accursed Pinktrees seem to have gotten too comfortable. That time when they always come in blossom-time has arrived so extra precautions need to be made. Recent patrols have reported scents and sounds that point to one thing." He paused for dramatic affect, "Dogs."

Several cats gasped and Featherstep herded her kits back into the nursery in fear. Sunsetwater and Jellyfishfur hissed defiantly while Riverrapid was visibly shaking in fear. Warriors were growling and scratching their claws against the floor like they were imagining ripping the fowl creatures' throats out right that instant. Silverpaw herself felt like her, the queen, and her grandmother were the only sane cats there. _How could they even think of fighting those beasts?! They eat warriors like we were baby turtles._

Pleased by his clan's reactions, Quicksilver got straight to the point of invoking this fear. "I want a patrol out everyday near the Pinktrees' half-spine into the ocean until they've left after heat-time. Today, I want Mudfoot to take Shellblossom and Bigbreak out." The three warriors stood and prepared to leave, but their leader wasn't done yet, "Silverpaw will go with her mentor." _W-What?!_ Unknowingly, she had said that out loud…along with someone else.

Saltpaw stood with his fur bristling in outrage. "How can you send _her_?!" he spat, "If any protégé should go it should be me!"

Looking bored and like he expected the young dark brown-and-gray tom's outburst, Quicksilver only blinked at him. "Fine, then go," he said like it didn't really matter. Her brother continued to growl, but seemed content at the moment.

"B-B-But," she started herself, but the striped silver leader cut her off with a serious and stern look quite unlike him.

"Do you dare to question the authority of your leader?" he asked of her coolly. Looking into his once again bright yellow gaze, Silverpaw could hardly think and breathe correctly nonetheless talk out of order. She bowed her head in submission as her leader walked past her back to his den.

"Have more faith in yourself."

She jumped and twirled around quickly locking a wide-eyed gaze on the retreating form of her leader. Had she really just heard what she thought she just heard? Did Quicksilver just give her…encouragement? It didn't matter either way; words couldn't save her from the ruthless jaws of a dog.

Slowly padding after her patrol that was swiftly leaving her behind, Silverpaw kept her eyes glued to the floor, but that didn't stop her brother from coming over to annoy her.

"It's a good thing I'm here," he proclaimed conceitedly. He locked a cruel and acidic yellow-green gaze on her and smiled evilly at his little sister. "If it had just been ya pathetic self on this patrol, ya'd probably get the warriors killed protecting ya sorry tail." Sure his words stung; they always did, but she had gotten used to his same old lame jeering at her and simply ignored him. He huffed,upset that he wasn't getting a reaction and stomped away leaving his sister to be consumed by her own misery.

* * *

The five-cat patrol left the beach behind under a grim silence. They passed Cliffjump having a training session with Mistpaw. The pale, young she-cat was fishing in a wave pool and seemed to being doing well (or at least better than Silverpaw had been doing as of late). She had a good pile of shelled creatures like clams, mussels, and oysters. Mistpaw dived her paw back into the murky water and when she pulled it back up suddenly with a frightened squeal, you could just make out something copper-colored. It was a little squid. Even seeing her least favorite cousin hop around screaming on three legs to try to shake off the determined creature, couldn't pick up her spirits. _Today is just going to be _fabulous_._

They made it to the cliff ramp leading up to the meadows and started the trek northward to the outskirts of the Thunder Camp. After the Pinktree dens unnaturally stopped, like something had cut them off, there were a bunch of different weird dens of all shapes and sizes packed together tighter than turtle eggs under the sand. Numerous amounts of Pinktrees left and came nonstop during the warmer time of the year, but never staid. Such strange creatures they were.

North of their hidden home, there was a larger, more golden beach that the Pinktrees had taken over. It's not like they wanted that territory; there was absolutely nothing there of any purpose and the Pinktrees had put up bizarre raised floors of wood including one that went out into the water. The half-spine. Not that the Pinktrees ever actually _did_ anything when they were there. They frolicked around like stupid kits with unnaturally colorful rectangular pelts that they laid on, giant mossballs made of unusual colorful material, and even stranger things than that. These creatures had to be truly mental; they even scared away all the fish! Really, what purpose do they serve in the world besides to burden the lives of the clans?

That was one of the things that made this mission so awful. That odd land ruled by even odder creatures was their destination (or really the borders of it). The danger was limitless with the Pinktrees' height and strength advantage, and their vile pets, dragons and dogs. It was no wonder why Quicksilver and Dewspirit were worried about the mongrels. Dragons were loyal, whipped lackeys to the Pinktrees always staying put when they were left alone and sticking to their trails, but the dogs. Oh the dogs. She didn't even want to bring all the terrifying tales that she'd been told about those monsters back to the surface of her mind. That should be explanatory enough.

For now, Silverpaw tried to enjoy the beautiful meadows currently engulfing them. She could easily see why Sparkclan cats enjoyed their green forests so much. The cold and empowering beauty of the Big Blue was something only Seaclan cats could really understand and appreciate, but the grass and flowers' lure was nothing hidden.

Vibrant shades and hues prettier than rainbows danced in the breeze on the petals that claimed them. They were strewn everywhere in no obvious pattern, but it was charming anyway. The jade grass gleamed in the light thanks to its coating of dew leftover form the morn thanks to the meadow being untouched. Seaclan liked their gray, desolate beach and found the majestic greenery to be an uncomfortable change to something that was made for them. They never thought change was anything good.

_That's why this trouble that's coming is going to be so terrible._ Great. She had to remind herself of her great "destiny". _Wasn't their current situation bad enough?!_ She scolded herself in her head.

Sighing, Silverpaw came back to dreadful reality as even her own subconscious wasn't a safe haven. Silence could never claim her clanmates for long, yet another factor that made her such a freak. Her brother and Mudfoot were discussing animatedly about what could unfold during their mission. They shared their own differing ideas about dogs and possible battle strategies against the beasts. _They're ENJOYING this?!_ She shook her head. Whether it was in horror, disbelief, or both, she didn't know.

In between the unbelievable duo and herself, were her mentor and Bigbreak. She couldn't help but crack a small smile at the ridiculous faces the large blue-gray tom was making. Whenever he retold happenings and unraveled a tale he always got so into it, making dramatic sweeps of his paws and tail, and overemotional facial expressions. He was really a nice cat even to her and she could easily see what Shellblossom loved about him. A smile was never off the pretty cream she-cat's muzzle for a second and when her eyes weren't closed with laughter they held a shimmer that she only ever noticed in her own parents.

_Good for Shellblossom, she's so lucky,_ she thought. Her mentor was always so gentle and patient with her no matter how much she failed. They both had very good hearts and deserved happiness. A weird feeling suddenly churned in her tummy. She wouldn't say it was jealousy, but she wished she could be in that position, grown and graceful with a tom that loved her despite all her faults and failures; then she would be a very happy she-cat no matter what the conditions. _And then comes kittens in a nest._ She shuddered at the thought; daydreaming about romance was one thing, but she would NOT be ready for that hurdle until a long time from now. _Now if only Lightclan took requests…_

Soon the soft, squishy grass was left behind and they stepped onto crunchy, dying grass shadowed by scraggly, overgrown bushes. Her face scrunched up in disgust; the Pinktrees really did destroy anything they touched. Mudfoot, the one in charge, held up her tail signaling for them to stop. "Now's when things get serious," she whispered to no cat in particular.

The brown patrol commander turned on her large paws with a grim, serious look upon her already rough face. "This is as far inland as we go, got it?" The four of them all nodded. "Now we'll split up along this perimeter and look out for any signs of dogs." Again using her tail, Mudfoot pointed out the directions they would be following. "I'll head straight west. Silverpaw go southwest, Bigbreak northeast, Shellblossom east, and Saltpaw southeast."

"You three need to be especially keen to spot any immediate dangers to the camp," she told the cats heading east, "Silverpaw and I will see if the other clans are in need of any warning along the west side." They nodded in understanding, Silverpaw glumly. "Now, FAN OUT!"

With that, her brother, her mentor, and her mentor's mate disappeared together into the foliage before they would start veering along separate paths. Mudfoot ended up taking off without a second glance at the silver protégé, leaving Silverpaw all by her lonesome. Nothing new. Sighing, she started jogging down her assigned path.

The grass became healthy again underpaw and the scraggly bushes were replaced with a mixture between meadow and woodlands. Smaller trees were growing here and there, but it was mostly meadow with easily maneuverable spacing between bushes and fern clumps. It was nice and covered enough for a good scouting mission just like what she was on.

Her nose was pressed to the dirt as she tried to sniff out the smell of dog. Quicksilver had been right about dogs being on their territory. They had been able to pick scattered traces of the creatures scent on their way to the Pinktree territory and there, an especially strong scent between one of the few spaces between the varied Pinktree dens. Unknown tall, shiny, hard things and weak, square-shaped dens made of a bark/wood-like substance were the only things in there at the time, but that was obviously the place where dogs entered clan territory.

She continued trying to pick up a trail (if halfheartedly), but got nothing but stale leads. The sun was halfway down and the sky was getting darker still. The time for her to meet up with the rest of the patrol at the rendezvous point would be soon upon her. Though it made her a sham of a warrior, Silverpaw would not deny that she was glad she didn't find anything. Maybe there were dogs coming into their territory, but it would be up to another patrol to deal with them and risk their lives instead.

She was a coward.

Laughing bitterly, she broke down under depression's mighty weight and cried on the inside since she didn't have tears to shed in reality. Naturally, Lightclan just had to get in the way.

Silverpaw swore she jumped a whole fish-leap into the air when a thunderous howl tore through the evening air. Her silver fur was on end, her tail straight up, her eyes bluer than a bluebird, her heart pounding like a woodpecker against a tree, and it was as hot as a heat-time day sunning under her fur. _What in the name of Lightclan?!_

Time rushed by painfully slow and yet she heard no more. It gave her a chance to calm down, but now that she could think, she was stuck at a crossroad. Would she run back and try to get help or investigate like a true warrior, a stupid one, but a true warrior nonetheless? As if deciding for her, the wind picked up and a bloodcurdling scent was wafted into her nostrils. She cringed at the unfamiliar musky scent, like nothing she had smelt before. Then she was off.

Not wanting to think and, let logic and fear force her to turn around, she just ran. She ran fast enough to make any Hurricaneclan cat scowl in envy. She was on a mission, but was it the same that she had been assigned? No, she wouldn't think; thinking would lead her farther down the road she was already on. In real life she may have been moving forward, but inside, she was going back.

The musky scent was faint and they probably would have lost it if she had went back for backup on that windy day. The trail veered off into what would've been her brother's area. Whatever the scent belonged to must have been hunting; the creature at least knew survival skills and had tried to cover its scent from its prey, but it was upwind of her and she would not lose it now. There was no turning back.

She slowed down when she started to hear noises. She recognized the tone that the howl had been in, but now it was just mere growls (though still just as threatening). Although, now there were new sounds that froze her in her tracks. Stepping closer into bushes lining the tiniest of clearings in an unusually forested area, she spied a horrendous scene.

There was a dog; it was big, thrice the size of her at least with dark and golden fur. Its snout was long and split into a menacing snarl showing each of its vicious canines. The tail was crescent-shaped like a blade of grass and on top of the head were huge, tall ears like the ones of the bats they sometimes found in the caves. But what had her really scared was that he had been hunting something…or some_things_. Shaking in pure fear, crouched down in the roots of a larger tree, were none other than Salmonkit and Dolphinkit. _I knew they had been up to something,_ she thought kind of off-topically in her head.

_Well, I've found the dog, now what do I do? There's no way I can face that thing…_Again the choice was taken out of her paws as the dog started to move onto the kits and they mewled out for help. Dashing away reason again, she revealed herself from the bushes and prepared to make a heroic exclamation.

"St-St-o-op…please," she squeaked out pitifully. The beast immediately leaped around and focused on her instead of the kits. It had a look on its face that Silverpaw could have sworn was mocking her pathetic attempt at sounding cool. _Well that didn't work,_ her inner self deadpanned. Reinstating its former attack, the dog started to advance on her, but Silverpaw didn't, COULDN'T, move. Its beady, hostile gaze was now locked on her.

_Oh no._ It stepped closer. *squish* _Oh no, oh no._ It stalked even closer. *squish* _Oh no, oh no, oh no!_ It was really right on top of her. *squish* _Oh no, oh no, oh no_-*squish*-_OK! What the dung is that pinkin' squishing noise?!_ She happily averted her gaze from the monster and instead stared at its paws. Trying not to focus on its massive claws the size of bird beaks, she instead watched the ground _under_ its paws. Slightly, oh so slightly, its paws were sinking into the mud caused by the rainy blossom-time.

_First rule Shellblossom ever taught me, water is your friend._ The watery dirt slipped through the dog's toes. _First rule Mother ever taught me, true friends are always there to help you._ Mud was formed by the ground getting soggy. _First rule Lightclan (sort of) ever taught me, water and I had a "special" bond._ That meant there was water in the ground around them, right now. _Well then if we're such "special" friends, then-_

"HELP ME!" she screamed just as the dog tried to pounce. She felt the power of the sea rush through her veins, the churning of a whirlpool in her gut, and the crash of the waves against the beach shore in her head. Her eyes were shut tight, but they burst open (if a bit starry) with the surprised yelp of the dog. Its paws were churning in a puddle of mud and kicked around uselessly only getting sucked in deeper and faster. It yelped pathetically now that it was the one in trouble. The ground that had once just been soggy grass was now a muddy death trap under the beast.

Quickly, Silverpaw dashed over to her littlest clanmates to try to comfort them. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding upon seeing A)they were safe, and B)they had covered their eyes at the climax. Not giving up completely, the dog turned around in the mud, but end up falling on its stomach with a painful-sounding bark most likely biting its tongue. On an adrenaline high from her successful use of her gifts, she swiped her claws at the beast and left a nasty scratch at its face.

Instead of yelping some more, it growled with both of them suddenly realizing it was close enough to bite her head off. Before it could attack and regain its dignity though, a battle cry was launched through the air as two warriors burst through the bushes where she had just been. She saw a flash of brown leap on its back and, a dark one pounce on a leg and bite at an ear. Mudfoot and Saltpaw had arrived.

Continuing to scratch at the dog's front, her brother pounced on leg after leg while the patrol commander scored her large paws down its shoulders. Howling in pain, the beast escaped from its messy prison now that Silverpaw had lost her concentration in shock and fear, and threw all three of them off. Saltpaw was rolled into a bush and Silverpaw slammed painfully into the tree above the kits hearing something pop. Only the experienced Mudfoot landed on her feet, like a true cat.

The dog was about to launch a counterattack, when two more warriors exploded into the clearing. Bigbreak and Shellblossom met the beast, hissing a challenge with their shackles raised. Black, beady eyes glanced at the increasing enemy and must not have liked its odd because it quickly decided to flee. Mudfoot gave him one last warning nip to the tail sending it between its legs.

The clan cats yowled in victory as Saltpaw walked back into the clearing grumpy as ever. Silverpaw tried to get up, but fell back to the ground in pain from what must have been a dislocated shoulder. Salmonkit and Dolphinkit nuzzled their blue-gray and ginger heads into her belly fur. "You. Are. Awesome," Salmonkit purred. It didn't need to be said that the two kits' view of her had been changed, forever this time around. Maybe she was weak, but she was going to try her hardest anyway from that moment on. Bring it, Lightclan.

Of course, Saltpaw had to ruin it. "You," he spat at her snarling, "Of course, you'd get in trouble. Why didn't ya come and get someone who could actually fight?! Your stupidity could have got Salmonkit and Dolphinkit killed!" She couldn't believe that this…this…brainless, yellow-bellied, wannabe, loser, JERKFACE actually had the audacity to be upset with her!

And she wasn't alone; Mudfoot came up behind and cuffed him harshly over the head causing him to fall to the ground. "_You_ shut ya dung mouth," she hissed at him suddenly not as friendly with him as she had once been.

"Agreed," Shellblossom stuck up for her protégé. She then rushed over to Silverpaw sniffing at her shoulder. "You were just wonderful, darling. I knew your bad streak couldn't last," she purred proudly.

Blushing embarrassedly at the praise, the group started to head on back home to report the attack. As an extra punishment, Saltpaw was forced to let Silverpaw lean on him as they headed back (who the punishment was for was still under questioning). The mates carried the kits back in their jaws making sure they didn't cause anymore havoc, but it was safe to say the two were a bit traumatized. Knowing them though, they'd be back to making mischief and bugging Mistycloud in no time. Especially, now that their new hero would be staying in his den.

Saltpaw muttered curses the whole way. "You just had to go and show off again, making a mockery of the warrior code. How'd you, of all cats, actually saved the kits, I'll never know," he muttered darkly.

OK, she had been dealing with her brother her whole life, literally, but even she had her limits. With the courage and adrenaline still draining through her body, she turned to Saltpaw and looked him right in the eye. "Shut up ya dung-brain and face the facts. I'm just awesome."

He was literally frozen in shock with his mouth hung down gaping at her as she limped up to her mentor's side no matter how painful it was. _That was so far the best moment of my life._

**WHOOP! 5,125 WORDS BABY! A lot for a normal chapter. Action packed, Major heart wrenching-ness, Silverpaw starts growing a backbone, and Saltpaw gets TOLD! Dude, I hope you studied up because you just got SCHOOLED! (! Happy)**

***Takes a deep breath***

**OK, calm down girl. Well, how'd you like that?! And no, Saltpaw isn't just misunderstood, he's just a douche. Some people (and cats) are just like that; we got to have someone to hate, right? I know now that her powers have expanded she's kind of more gifted than the rest, but trust me, she won't have any advantage like that. Now R&R, me peeps! XP**


	10. Chapter 9:Wind

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**MUCHO IMPORTANTE AN:Attention readers, this message is to inform you that this is the last of my pre-written chapters. This means that it'll be taking longer to update and with me being back in school now, I'll really only have time to write freely on the weekends, but I promise that that's pretty much all I will do! This will NOT go on Hiatus especially now that we're about to get into the real plot, but just don't aangry with me for not updating every five days (in fact, this is the first time I've had a minute to even post this short mess). Anyway,this is lrambling, goodbye.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

_Windpaw was frustrated. The clans_ were well into Blossom-time by now, but it was starting to look like that would be the end of Hurricaneclan-his family, his home. And despite being Lightclan's so-called "chosen one", there wasn't a dung thing he could do about it. Sure he was fast, but if there's nothing _to_ catch then that's not really helpful. Yes, for whatever nonsensical reason they had, the crazy Pinktrees had continued with their poisoning of the prey his clan depended upon for survival. To make matters worse, they were starting to show themselves with deformed-looking dragons and large pieces of wood, unnaturally smooth. Farther north of their territory, the blasted creatures had seemed to take up a temporary camp and were up to their weird doings. Naturally, no one had a clue what they were up to in the long run, but it only mattered that it spelled doom for his clan.

Just recently a patrol had found their first real victim. Windpaw hadn't been on the patrol, but Frostpaw was with her mentor; they were trying to harvest the herbs that grew in the area of Pinktree activity before they ruined that, too. That was how they came upon the rogue's corpse; no one recognized him naturally, but it wasn't a pleasant thing to see either way. There were signs of dried foam around the rogue's mouth, his sister had reported, and the carcass of a rabbit next to him. The tom obviously hadn't known of the condition the prey was in recently and had met his demise because of it, and he wasn't alone.

Someone(they don't know who) had came across a still fully kickin' hare, a rare find nowadays, and brought it back to camp. We didn't find out that the hare just hadn't felt the affects of the poison yet until Wrenflight died and the herbal cats did an analysis to find the cause of death. Heatherpaw and Owlpaw were distraught about his death along with their parents, Rabbitcoat and Hazelfur. Apparently they had been related somehow; he could believe it, they all looked alike enough. Now,they weren't even allowed to eat the good prey unless its innards have been dissected and checked for the poisoning pellets. Though it was just a pain for him, they had found a few close cases. The only good thing about the situation was that Windpaw got to comfort Heatherpaw in her time of need.

To add fuel to the fire, the ancient, Flamewing, the young nurse, Echolight, and Woodfrost and Halfmoon's son, Spiderkit, were not faring well from the lack of food in the clan.

Hurricaneclan had even resorted to using their little meadow and woodlands for more succulence, breaking out hunting skills during training that even the protégés' parents hadn't used in seasons. He didn't like all this focus on hunting; he rather be fighting-training for whatever disaster Lightclan foretold and readying to take on Terraclan or Sparkclan. Those two had been going at each other's throats so much, it wouldn't take a lot to switch their fury onto Hurricaneclan when they were so tightly wound up. You've should've seen the way Rockbronze was glowering at Burninggold at the last Assembly,well,more than he _usually_ glowers at the ginger leader.

Although,even with these extra measures, they were just scraping by and this was the most plentiful season of all! _How could we possibly make it under the grilling sun of Sun-time or through the freezing temperature drops of Snow-time?_ Windpaw worried in his mind, _Our only hope is to find a way to get those loony,hairless creatures to get lost or at least quit poisoning the prey. Seriously, don't they have to eat, too?_ Though he had to think about the last part; he had come across the weird rootless, hollow trunks where the Pinktrees dumped their remains on the outskirts of their Thundercamp near their territory, and what he found looked nothing like rabbit or bird. Maybe if he was Seaclan or Terraclan he could distinguish some of the stranger prey they hunted solely, but he doubted it. The stuff in the trunks smelled burnt and seemed to never have once been alive. Such strange creatures they were yet they were such a pain in the tail.

Grunting, he tried to refocus on the task at hand. The new norm for the camp was hunting, round the sun. They had to get to the prey before Pinktrees did so he was on a rather large hunting patrol. It consisted of him, Owlpaw, Gorsepaw, Thunderstep, Halfmoon, Horsefoot, Milkfeather, and Blackwind. Quietwhipser's larger and more capable brother, Thunderstep, and the near-ancient, black-and-white Halfmoon were in charge, but they had fanned out their forces almost immediately after leaving camp. Now, to make his patrolling even more horrid, he was stuck with the annoying Owlpaw on his tail. Well,it could be worse; Stormbird could be on the patrol, too.

He'd been lucky to avoid his dark-furred former mentor to this point and frankly, hoped it stayed that way. Although, from the "one-eye open" he's had on the grumpy mentor, he's been taking the shame pretty well, thanks to Dayfield. And that would be the reason Windpaw was glad _Goldenheart_ wasn't on the patrol. The young dark gray long-fur sighed, _Older cats get themselves into so much drama_, he glanced up at the clear blue expanse that would become his ancestors' hunting grounds at night, _Please don't make my life that difficult, you already gave me a freaking prophecy to fulfill…and with that no good Dapplepaw, too. I have a feeling she's going to be an even a bigger thorn in my side than Owlpaw._

He stopped his halfhearted searching and just plopped down on a dead patch of grass with a huff. He had made his way near that place where the grasslands met the Thundercamp. The funny hollow stumps would be near him. Shivering, Windpaw hated to think that their predicament would get bad enough that they would go pillaging in the Pinktrees' trash. Stray dogs without Pinktree masters would sometimes do that; that was why the long-muzzled brutes were beneath even the lowest of cats. Their kind weren't so pathetic to steep that low, at least, not as quickly as dogs do. No matter how starving he was though, he'd never sink to that level. He'd rather die.

Or well, maybe join another clan; he could probably manage as a Terraclan warrior. He was certainly strong enough and he doubted they would pass up the chance at having _two_ gifted cats in their forces. Windpaw shook his head and bent over, growling at himself and ears pulled back. _Look at me! Already thinking about abandoning my clan when the going gets tough, pathetic! I'm Windpaw of _Hurricaneclan_, I am better than that._ Aggravated, the protégé tore at the brown, shriveled blades of grass with his claws. He was frustrated all over again; he just wanted to run.

The fronds, back at the end of the field, rustled and out stepped a cat Windpaw really did _not_ need to see at the moment. He hadn't taken a long look at Owlpaw in…ever, but he could tell that she was far skinnier than normal; her ribs were showing under her light-brown and cream fur, matching the feathers of the barn owl for which she was named for. At least his long fur could keep him from physically giving away his condition to the other clans. It was because of this that he was sure he'd be going to more assemblies during his clan's time of need, another misplaced plus during their hardship. Even starving though, Owlpaw had the same superior look on her muzzle as ever. And it was directed right at him.

"Quitting already, Windpaw?" she asked, sounding as superior as she tried to look. She sashayed, yeah that's right, sa_shayed_, foolishly closer to the already,previously irritated tom. "Well, hurry up with your break," she told him, "We've got plenty of mouths to feed."

Windpaw sent a glare her way with a cautious gleam in his amethyst eyes. _What's this?_ He pondered, _Owlpaw playing nice? Breezegem was right, tough times _do_ bring cats together._ Owlpaw waited to see his response, but the stubborn tom refused to turn around and face her completely.

"Shut up," he hissed suddenly, scaring her both with the sudden speech and the ferocity in his tone. The malnourished protégé continued, visibly shaking with emotion. "D-Don't be nice to me like…like this is the last time we'll talk!" he whirled on her, outraged, "How dare you give up already; we are still not friends so-" He turned back around as quickly as the first time. His voice came out in a whimper through his trembling lips, "So don't act like you've got to tie up loose ends. Make _amends_." His last words were a lot calmer than his previous ones and his form had slouched from its shaking status, but this only scared Owlpaw more.

Her gaze softened, never before had she ever felt any kind of bond with the spiteful young tom besides clanmate-ship, but she knew all too well where his outburst was coming from. "Windpaw," she began, careful not to wind him up again, "No one's giving up; we're Hurricaneclan, strongest storm there is. We will _never_ give up. Our energy just needs to be focused on staying alive, not _fighting_." Expecting that to fix the situation, Owlpaw tried to move closer again, but no sooner than her first step forward-he was gone. She had blinked and he was gone. The creamy-furred she-cat was left stunned, not knowing what just happened. After the paralysis wore off (though the fear and confusion remained), she rolled her amber eyes and stalked back into the field, losing the grace in her walk. She would never understand that tom.

* * *

Meanwhile, after escaping his nemesis by using his super speed, Windpaw was finally channeling out his anger in his most favorite way. He was running. Without using his super speed. Windpaw didn't care where he was heading off in a blind rage or that he was wasting valuable time. _Pfft,_ he snorted, _I seriously doubt I'd catch anything anyway._ No sooner than he had thought those words, the painfully familiar scent drifted into his pink nose. The hollowness in his shrunken stomach started to ache; he had been able to put his hunger behind him, but the scent of delicious rabbit reminded him just how bad they were all getting. Now more determined than ever, he halted in his run and took in the scent with his mouth. It was faint, meaning far away, but potent, meaning more than one scent of rabbit. In fact, he might even raise his hopes in thinking he'd found a denning spot.

Denning spots were places where'd you find all the holes leading down to multiple rabbit kins' burrows, kind of like a camp of sorts. All the old ones had been abandoned as they were too close to the Pinktrees now or the rabbits were not dumb enough to come out. Following the trail, Windpaw noticed, much to his chagrin, that he was really starting to push into the Thundercamp territory. Despite his silent prayers,he found himself right up against the white wooden walls with pointy tops that barred the Pinktree yards from the wild. The intense coloring hurt his eyes so he drifted away from the border marker, but still stayed on the path of the rabbit scent. It was no longer faint.

Soon enough, Windpaw came across a real dream come true; it _was_ a denning spot, a new one. The rabbits must have relocated due to the recent flare up of Pinktree activity in their previous settlement. It was a cleared stretch of dirt where grass refused to grow mostly for some unknown reason. A different type of wooden border was placed to the northeast of it, more like the kind they have back at the old, abandoned barn. Staying hidden amongst the tall grass, he eyed the holes waiting for his first prey to come out. He had to be on his guard because boy, did he know how fast the little-there! A little pink-and-black speck, a nose, poked out of the hole and wiggled around (cutely, a she-cat would have said), attempting to sniff out danger. It obviously didn't find him (he had paused earlier to check if he was downwind) for its ears soon followed, angling around to pick up on the slightest sounds,but Windpaw was trained to be imperceptible. Then it hopped out, brushed at its face with its paws in a hurry, and began to make its leave.

No one saw what happened next.

Windpaw leapt from his hiding spot with a yowl, but something else came from behind the wooden obstructions and now, there was just a big confusion in the dirt patch. The rabbit squealed, trying to dart away from all the foreign beings while the clan cat did his best to follow it in the fray. The other two things-cats, he deduced from realizing he could clearly understand what they were shouting, stumbled around just being a nuisance.

The hare slipped up allowing the protégé to catch it and quickly end its life. The commotion had alerted the other rabbits down below and when they poked their heads out to survey the situation, they became caught up in it, as well. Now there were two more running around in a panic.

"Stop it!" Windpaw cried, to who, he had no idea, and went after one of the other rodents, leaving behind his first catch. Someone, an unfamiliar dirt-colored cat, responded to his yell and kicked the other rabbit when it got too close. Skidding in an attempt to change targets, he darted after that rabbit instead. Yet another shape dashed into the clearing. Out of the corner of his eye, Windpaw made out a creamy color-Owlpaw! Surprising it, she got it easily while _another_ rabbit, a young one, came out to join the party.

The young tom had just dealt with his prey when a weight crashed into him. His side awkwardly met the lump that was his catch, allowing him to scowl into the face of one of the strangers. The attacker was a blue-eyed black tom from what he could see, but he was soon being batted at with a white paw. There was no real power behind his blows and Windpaw instantly knew that this was some cat who'd never experienced a fight. The black cat did have a weight advantage over him though, but his powerful legs had no problem flinging him off. Windpaw looked at the cat, he was no older than himself, with disgust seeing that even that little blow had him down. While he collected his prizes, he saw that Owlpaw had gotten the other and the unknown cats were watching them warily, their fur on end.

He had to admit he was out of breath and ready to go home, but the dirt cat, a she-cat he could now tell, spoke up. "W-Why did you do that?!" she stuttered, unique gray eyes wide. He had to admit she was pretty despite the unappealing pelt color, but he had no desire to play nice with obvious softhearts.

With a roll of the eyes and complimentary snort, Windpaw responded, "Everyone has to eat." Owlpaw and him actually shared a laugh at their appalled expressions and walked away smiling.

"Um!" he heard the she-cat's voice again. The two clan cats stopped and turned back to look at the speaker. Neither of the softhearts had left though the tom looked like he really wanted to. "I'm Annabelle Lee!"

"Annabelle!" her male companion scolded her.

"And that's Socks!" Annabelle Lee continued, undeterred.

"So?" Windpaw grumbled, not seeing the point behind this, but apparently it was a she-cat thing because Owlpaw suddenly felt like talking.

"I am Owlpaw and this Windpaw. We are of Hurricaneclan," she said.

"Hurricaneclan?" inquired the ginger cat, stepping back into the patch from behind the wooden border.

"Yes, you see…" Owlpaw answered coming forward. Socks followed close behind his friend, but I felt no obligation to go with my clanmate. _Why was she talking to these _softhearts_? This isn't against the code, but we are supposed to shun their way of life which means shunning them too! Right? Right; I'm always right._ Despite this, Owlpaw went into a short summarizing of their way of life. This Annabelle Lee seemed fascinated, but Socks and Windpaw were glaring each other down. Or Windpaw was glaring down Socks and the white-pawed tom was trying his best not to show just how intimidated he was by a cat no older than him. He remembered all too well how the wild cat killed the rabbits.

Eventually, the she-cats completed their little chat and the two parties went their separate ways. Our "hero" was back to being snippy with the creamy she-cat, but he was glad to have been able to rest after that chaos. He eyed the two rabbits dangling from his jaws. They had just been starting to get meat back onto their bones so they were still scrawny. The rabbit kit Owlpaw had looked just pitiable. This didn't stop their patrol, and later their clan, from wholeheartedly welcoming both the food and the news on the new hunting spot.

Owlpaw didn't mention her chatting up the softhearts and Windpaw was glad. When he thought back on it, he realized he probably should've done something to stop her, but he'd been so _tired_. He hadn't wanted to. Even now, he even settled for sharing the rabbit kit with his nemesis. The whole clan got to eat that day, but the better stuff still went to the kits, nurses, and ancients first. Even his sister and her mentor got a better share than him, but he wouldn't dare complain…out loud at least. He was content for the moment with being quite bratty in his head where it was safe to speak out and be selfish.

It had been an eventful, crazy day and he was glad to curl up in his wheat nest for the night. He was far from being concerned about a couple of softhearts. Though…maybe he should have been.

**Ugh, I just couldn't get into writing this. Maybe I actually _need_ school to start back up (yeah, that's right-I'm still on vaca suckers while writing this! :P) so this will feel awesome again. Why include the softhearts (kittypets)? No, it was not because I had no ideas; they're actually important. In fact the next chappie is in Socks' (X3) POV. R&R**

**PS-My elective for this year is Creative Writing so hopefully my works will get any better for you fans.**


	11. Chapter 10:Socks

**Wow, it's been a while, but apparently people are still clicking on this at least. Like I said last update, this is in Socks's view and then I'm _pretty _sure it'll be all action just about to the end of the book. Mostly. Or at least important plot stuff.**

**I don't own the Warriors series, just ALL these cats, clans, this story, and territories.**

**Chapter 11**

_Socks awoke with a start, springing from_ his comfortable plush bed. The noise didn't disturb his mother and her silky black shape continued with its rhythmic rising. House pets' senses had long since dulled to the point of near uselessness. That was something that separated the Order from…_them_.

Shaking his head, the tomcat tried to clear his head of those thoughts. Ever since the conversation Annabelle Lee and he had with Owlpaw and Windpaw, _wild cats_, Socks' nights had been plagued with nightmares on the lives those cats lived. He couldn't imagine why any of them couldn't find a nice owner to take them in and make their lives easier. It would be easy for Windpaw with his long fur; the humans eat the fluffy ones up. Uh, figurally speaking of course.

He padded over to his food and water bowl, but hesitated upon looking at it. After dreams filled with fangs sinking into the juicy, succulent meat of bunnies, the little, dry brown pellets seemed less like food and more like what came out of food. Socks settled with just quenching his thirst.

The sun shined brightly outside, glistening on the dew-covered uniformity of his owners' backyard. Complete and utter perfection, not imposing trees and ingrown weeds. He shook his head, _I must get over those strays. Thinking of them will bring me nothing but a headache._

The young cat bent and stretched his limbs. He was getting ready for a day out and about. Today there wasn't as much time to spend traveling as he would need to get back in time to fit in a nap. He must be well-rested and presentable for the Sisters. "A clean body equals a clean soul" was one of their many phrases of wisdom.

Coming to the edge of his fence, he sprung to the pointy peak and began his walk. The Holy Allegiance took its camp in the human suburb of Newhaven, a lovely name. It was divided into two factions for the northern and southern halves of the rather large neighborhood; Socks belonged to the north order. He had been born into it by the she-cat Starlet. She was as black as the icky liquid that sometimes leaked from the humans' transportation machines.

Socks could not lie that his and his mother's pelt color was a bit offsetting to him. Black was not a color with a positive connotation; it could even be said that it was a color of the Fallen One, the great demon whose true name was taboo in the order. The elderly Fluffy, who lived in the little yellow house on the corner, once even told him that black cats used to be shun as they brought bad luck. He had tried to put the tales behind him after Carlota had scolded the senile sack of fur for scaring the kit.

It was safe to say he deeply believed in their way of life and followed the ways of the order to a "T". Or, at least he tried to. It was a bit difficult to do that when you're best friends with one Annabelle Lee.

Though possibly the prettiest kitty he had even seen with fur like the light from a hearth blaze and eyes of pure silver (in his opinion at least, others could argue that her fur was a less appealing shade of ginger and her eyes an unnatural grey). However, even blessed with all the beauty (again, an opinion), there had to be a curse to create mortal equality. She was ever the curious thinker.

"Curiosity killed the cat," more from the mouths of the Sisters.

_And this time it might just get her killed for real._ Such morbid thoughts were very unlike him and he cursed the outsiders for implanting the seeds of them. Why couldn't she keep her nose where it belonged? Why did she have to _speak_ to those miscreants? He knew no good would come from this; Socks could practically feel the threads of their perfect, orderly lives unraveling. The world as he liked it, not knew, falling out from under him-

"Whoa!" Socks screeched as he found something really _was_ falling out from under his paws. He had somehow slipped up on top the fence causing him to fall to the hard, unforgiving ground. "Ugh," he moaned, having landed in an awkward position.

Very tenderly, he repositioned his limbs. He winced at cracks and shook when weight was added to his joints. _Great, it's a meeting day and I've gone and hurt myself. The Sisters won't be happy if I present myself on holy ground like this._ Thankfully, after a few still minutes of rest Socks decided that he was good enough to stand. His shoulder throbbed mercilessly, but he would live. It was just a flesh wound.

Bad news was that the injury gave him a limp in his walk. Dread grasped his heart as the images of the humiliation he would receive when the Sisters and the rest of the Order berated him for this at the meeting. Shaking the thought from his head, the mostly black tom forced himself to walk it off; keeping a tight lip to brave the pain.

But there was a problem.

Now that he was back on his feet, Socks saw that when he fell, he fell on the wrong side. As in, he was in the forest. In the wild. Where wild cats roamed and lurked. Ready to kill civilized cats like himself just because they can.

Foolishly howling a cry of fear, he leapt for the safety of the fence and clawed himself up pitifully when he missed by a long shot. He tumbled over the top, falling again, and most likely making his shoulder worse, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins from that terrifying experience overwhelmed the pain. _Great, now I can't even step in the woods without having a heart attack. Stupid "clans" and their stupid ways._

Socks groaned, feeling the pain in his shoulder once more. He was having a truly terrible day. Too bad it had to get worse.

Laughter erupted around him causing the white-footed cat to flinch in shock.

"Ha ha, nice landing, Socks."

"What happened to 'cats always landing on their feet'?"

"Yeah, you're making the rest of us look bad."

His blue eyes flicked up from the ground to find his four least favorite cats. Tawni-a tan tortoiseshell, Dude-a black-and-white tabby, and Frenchy- tabby-and-white, were the more tolerable ones. They were just the annoying lackeys who seemed incapable of coming up with thoughts of their own. No, the real trouble was with the "gang" of young cats' leader, Jerry. (A terrible name to boot)

Jerry was a dark brown tabby tom older than him, but not quite fully grown. Something about him, Socks sure didn't know what, made him popular with the she-cats and humans-even the mean ones that threw shoes at you when you're taking a midnight stroll. Jerry loved the attention as it gave him _power_. Why he needed power, again he didn't know, but just the notion put him on Sock's bad side.

Though, that didn't mean anything in the long run.

"Ha ha, yes. Very funny, guys," Socks said dryly, picking himself up. He tried to wince as little as possible; those jerks would rat him out in a heartbeat.

"We know it was funny," Jerry mocked, "That's why we laughed, smarty-cat."

Socks rolled his eyes. Halfway through the rotation, he spotted another among the hooligans and smiled for real. "Annabelle Lee!"

Standing in the background in all her glory was indeed Annabelle Lee. She returned the smile and padded over to him. "Morning Socks," she cheered.

"Morning-"

Jerry interrupted their possible conversation with a snort. "Geez, 'nough flirting already, you two." Socks and Annabelle Lee blushed under their fur at the comment and looked anywhere, but at each other. This earned a snort and an eye roll from the pompous tabby. "_Any_way, before our old pal over there interrupted, I believe you were telling us something, dear Annabelle Lee." He purred her name, making Socks' blood boil. If his friend noticed his flirtatious move (_hypocrite_), she didn't show it.

Dude spoke up. "Yeah, tell us more about those 'clan cats'!"

"Oh right," Tawni agreed, "Did they _really_ kill all those rabbits?" The she-cat held a dark glimmer in her eyes, foreign to the youngest tom.

_Oh, tell me she didn't!_ Black fur fluffing up, Socks was on edge. _How could Annabelle Lee tell them about the clans?! These guys won't even hesitate to snitch to the Sisters and then we'll be in so much trouble! The Sisters tell us never to enter the forest or fields and definitely NEVER to fraternize with outsiders (probably more intended to wild cats in the first place_)_!_

He groaned. Though he was mad at her for telling Jerry and his friends, they were still best friends. So Socks cleared his throat and nudged her side.

"Um, Annabelle Lee? I need to talk to you about something important."

Her gray eyes widen in interest (_there's that dang curiosity_) and he felt heat radiate from her face like a blush, but what could she be blushing about?

Annabelle Lee waved her tail in a farewell to the other four and they walked away. Socks caught Dude and Frenchy making crude facial motions over his shoulder and knew they were mocking the two of them. _How immature._

The two walked a safe distance away before Socks turned to face her. "And what was THAT about?!"

Annabelle Lee cocked her head. "What?"

"You told them!"

"About the clans? Yeah, so?"

He couldn't believe his ears; he felt like pulling his fur out! So? SO?! Wait, he should be saying this out loud.

"So?! Why would you do that?! You know we're not supposed to go outside the neighborhood unless with our humans _or_ speak to outsiders. We did both! Do you know how much trouble we could get in?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh Socks, relax. If Jerry snitches I can turn the situation against him; the Sisters wouldn't believe him over me."

"That's not the point!"

"No, it's not!" Now _she_ was mad. How could she get mad?! She was the one that got them into this huge mess in the first place, only Socks had the right to be mad. "Why can't you live a little, Socks? Plenty of good cats aren't as obsessed and uptight as you are."

"Like who?" he spat, "_Jerry_?-"

"No, I think I just said that-"

"Yeah, but it might as well be someone just as irritating as him...I am not uptight," he pouted.

Smiling, Annabelle Lee _mrrowed_ at his behavior, her anger forgotten. She guessed she could only stay mad at him for so long. Sighing, she flicked his ear to get him out of his sulking. "Hey," she said soothingly, "you seriously need to stop worrying so much, silly! It's not healthy."

Leaving her friend still in shock, the ginger she-cat walked away. Socks sighed when she was gone. He guessed he would just never understand her.

* * *

After his run-in with Annabelle Lee, Socks headed home for that nap. With everything that had happened to him that day, he was more than ready for it and hoped that his shoulder would feel better afterwards.

_One out of two isn't bad_, he grumbled in his mind as he trudged towards the small park the humans took their little ones to, trying to hide his limp as best he could from his mother.

The sun was setting, but the meetings always ended before nightfall. No one wanted to be out so late and some of their owners locked them out after dark.

Starlet looked over at her son. "Everything alright?" she asked him.

He flinched, thinking his injury was showing. "Yeah, I feel fine," he said too quickly.

She looked at him suspiciously. "That's nice…but I meant in life. Your sleeping has been very restless lately."

Another flinch; so she had noticed after all. Socks wished he could tell her, but unlike _some_ cats, he wanted to keep his and his friend's little escapade on the down low. Then again, what else is family good for besides confiding in, but it wasn't like they were going to see those wild cats again, anyway. They were done with them so he should move. Annabelle Lee is right; he worries too much.

In his little inner monologue, he forgot about his worried mother. This didn't help his case with her.

As he came out of his thoughts, he noticed the look on her face and tried to smile convincingly, hoping to ward off her suspicious notions. It seemed to work as Starlet hummed and returned her attention to the path ahead. The park was just in the distance.

When the two arrived it was nearly time for the meeting. They were at the edge of the crowd and it looked like just about everyone was there. Jerry, Tawni, Dude, and Frenchy had arrived early and were seated up front at the foot of the Sisters' pedestals. He could here the mewling of Nanami's kittens from somewhere in between Jerry's gang and himself. Putting all his weight on his hind legs, he could see the tan she-cat nagging the light brown and light ginger fluff balls.

There were other cats that he recognized as well like grumpy, old Fluffy and her nicer elderly counterpart, Carlota. The plump brown-and-cream she-cat's new housemate was next to her. Chimichanga was an odd one and it wasn't just because of his name. The light gold tom had tall ears and a kinked tail that often hit stuff during his usual bouncing around. He was even older than Jerry, but acted half as mature as Socks himself.

After surveying the rest of the crowd, Socks was saddened to not find Annabelle Lee or her own mother present yet. He knew even she wasn't daring enough to miss a meeting.

With his biggest distraction not there yet, the young tomcat found his gaze to wander to their great "leaders" themselves. The Sisters were three very, _very_ old she-cats who, surprisingly, were not sisters. Mary was the one who seemed to be in charge. She was dark ginger and brown with tabby markings. Her eyes were a shade of yellow, the only characteristic the Sisters shared outside age.

Abigail followed her and was a tabby as well, but gray with long fur. In fact, seeing her brought back memories of a certain other gray longhair, putting him back in a funky mood.

The last Sister was Eunice. She was tan-and-cream and the only one not a tabby.

All three Sisters, though not very similar in appearance, were nearly identical in personality and ideology. It was this that made them such a close knit group and having an air of control whether they originally had it or not. Currently, they expressed that control very well from atop the playground set, the sunlight giving the three an ethereal glow.

Socks was about to reside himself to look at them until the end of the meeting, content with his seating, especially since he was in a bad mood again. However, something caught his eye from his peripheral vision. A ginger something.

Swiveling his head, he was briefly lifted from his mood to find that his friend had finally arrived. Annabelle Lee had walked into the park along with her mother Donna. The older she-cat was a tabby, with a light, graceful walk, who was considered pretty in her own right. Donna and her daughter sat themselves under the swing set.

He acknowledged her presence with a wave of his tail. She saw his gesture and returned the wave, but then looked away. It looked like she was talking to someone else.

At first he was confused because he had thought that Annabelle Lee and her mother were the only two there. Upon further investigation, though, he just made out the outline of another cat in the growing shadows. Squinting, he could see more of the cat, but he didn't like what he found. It was Cynthia.

Now, what was wrong with Cynthia? Well, she _wa__s_ small and scruffy-looking, her brown fur unkept from living on the street, but that wasn't it. Her eyes were quite nice, if he had to compliment her, being a very deep blue. Socks didn't even really _dislike_ her, but what could he do?

She was shunned.

And the truth was, it wasn't even her fault. It was her son's-or really, it wasn't even his fault. Cynthia was another mother in the neighborhood, but her little family wasn't as welcomed as the others. Cynthia only had one kitten born in her litter-a little ginger tom-kit with a white splash and her eyes. Sadly, for whatever reason her kit was cursed or so the Sisters said. It was their area of expertise.

Thus, he had been named Sin so everyone would know to avoid him. Unfortunately, being Sin's mother carried the shunning to Cynthia, but she didn't seem to mind. When others gave her and her son looks of scorn, she raised her head up high and returned the look tenfold. Socks knew himself the wrath of a mother and it wasn't a pretty thing (he had been glad it was used to protect him and not against him when it had happened in his life). He couldn't help but admire her for it, though he never said that out loud.

Sin wasn't there tonight; he had heard rumors that he was sick. Of course, sympathy hadn't come with the rumors, but Socks himself did not feel like spreading the hate. He tried to remain neutral to subjects like this, avoid conflict and all. Nevertheless, when he eavesdropped on the conversation between the object of his affections and Cynthia, flinching as he recognized the story of the clans, he couldn't help but feel that conflict was the only route from this point.

**Yeah, I know it's short and really crappy, but I just wanted to get this over with and the softhearts aren't _that_ important. They only really matter for Hurricaneclan. Sorry it has been so long, but I hope people still readthis. As always, R&R!**


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